Terms of Engagement
by Twin Overlords of Chaos and Order
Summary: Many things have happened over the course of Ranma's life. But he soon learns that things were not as they first appeared, a lesson he has learned time and again. When he learns the truth behind many events in his life, will he be up to the challenge?
1. Prologue

Terms of Engagement

Terms of Engagement

By Overlord of Order

**SUMMARY: What if many of the on-goings involving Genma and Nodoka was all a hoax? What if most of what they've said was a lie? What reason could they have to lie to so many people? What does it have to do with Ranma's future?**

**This is an idea that's been floating around my head but I've never managed to put it into writing until now. I hope you like it.**

_Prologue_

"Genma."

From his position on the ground, Genma Saotome opened his eyes and met the gaze of his wife, Nodoka Saotome. They were currently the only people at the Tendo household; three of the children were at school, Soun was off somewhere important with the Master, Happosai, and Kasumi was off to the market. He saw the serious look in her eyes and, with a sigh, stood and walked with her back inside. The master of the Saotome School of Indiscriminate Grappling took a seat at the table while his wife did the same on the opposite side.

A quick glance at his wife told him all that he needed to know. For once she was not carrying the Saotome family blade with her. One look down to the table revealed that it was placed on the table. The look on her face was not the face of someone who expected much from her husband or her son but one that looked weary and tired of something. Knowing what it was she wanted to speak about, he nodded once in her direction.

Seeing the small nod he gave her, Nodoka began to speak in a serious tone. "Genma, how much longer are we going to have to keep this up? We have been waiting years and yet there has been no development as of yet. Not to mention his current situation. Soun's relentless insistence on marriage, Kuonji-san's desire for marrige or blood, Akane's temper, Nabiki's blackmailing, the Kuno siblings' delusions, and don't get me started on the Amazons." She paused for a moment to contemplate the next words she was about to say. She sighed, her mood growing more depressed. "I do not think Ranma will last much longer. You taught him well, given the amount of time he spent here and managing to stay patient with the situation. But even he has his limits. And we will need him to be at his best for when the time comes."

Genma sighed heavily at this. He had been expecting this to happen for several months now. He was actually quite surprised that she had managed to hold out this long before she began to voice her opinion on the matter. "I know No-chan," He replied comfortingly, reaching over the table and placing his hand on hers. "But the boy is strong. That is why I send him off on short trips every now and then, to help him calm himself down. All those problems can be solved easily. I did, after all, instigate the current situation. The Amazons were an accident but I know of a way to remedy that. Unfortunately we will have to wait a while longer before I can get rid of their claim for good."

"I see," She replied sadly but relieved that they had a solution for the Amazon problem. "It's good to hear that we can get rid of them at some point. But what of Akane? I don't like the idea of having her physically abusing Ranma so much. I know that you would take care of his injuries before they got too far during your training trip so I don't consider that a problem."

"I'll deal with Akane when the time comes," He replied confidently. Then his eyes widened as he suddenly remembered something important. He slapped his forehead and quickly pulled out two opened enveloped from inside his gi. "I forgot to give you this earlier this week. It was a good thing we had this talk otherwise I would have forgotten completely."

She took the letters from her husband's hand, put down the first letter and read the contents carefully. After she read the first one, her eyes were wide open in surprise and shock. "I-Is this real?" She asked her husband shakily, a look of disbelief clearly on her face. After she received a nod from Genma, she placed the letter back down on the table with a shaky hand, pulled the second letter from the envelope, and read it as well. She placed the letter down wordlessly and a somber expression replaced the shocked look on her face.

"So," She began in a soft tone. "It looks like the time has come then."

"Right. All we have to do is wait and see if they pass the final test before we tell everyone the truth," He paused as what appeared to be a fearful look crossed his face. "And that means explaining everything to Ranma."

"You've raised Ranma well," Replied the auburn haired woman, this time being the comforting figure as she reached across the table to take hold of her husband's hand. "If you explain the reasons I'm sure he will understand. After all, if they do pass the final test then we have a reason to cancel the other engagements seeing as they failed to abide by the conditions you left."

"Thank you No-chan. I certainly hope that Ranma won't take this the wrong way." The dark look on his face was replaced by one of determination, a powerful flame burning deep within him. "But even if he does not forgive me for what I've done, I am ready to accept that. I will willingly accept any and all forms of punishment he may have prepared for me after this."

"I know you will Genma. And I'm sure that Ranma will not ask too much of you."

Both of them shared a caring smile as they stood from the table and hid the letters just as Kasumi returned from the market and began to prepare dinner with the help of Nodoka. Minutes later Soun returned and began another game of Go with Genma. 'I'm sorry my old friend,' He thought sorrowfully as he watched Soun think of his first move. 'But this is the way it has to be. The master separated the schools for a reason. I could not understand his reasoning as well back then but now I can clearly see why he did so. Forgive me, old friend.'

Just as Ranma and Akane got back from school, he went back to his usual routine as he pointed towards the distance and said, "Look! It's a demon!" As soon as Soun spun around to verify his claims, he shifted the boards in his favor by removing several of Soun's pieces from the board. "Oh, I was mistaken. It was just a balloon."

_END PROLOGUE_

**Well, how was it for a start? Tell me what you think about it. A story where Genma isn't the kind of person everyone thought he is, is something I haven't seen around here. So… am I the first to put up an idea like this? I hope I am. :D **

**Well, until the next chapter then. Please click on the 'GO' button at the bottom of the page and leave a review. Thank you. Hope you like the idea.**


	2. Arc 1 Chapter 1

Terms of Engagement

By Overlord of Order

**SUMMARY: ****Many things have happened over the course of Ranma's life. But he soon learns that things were not as they first appeared, a lesson he has learned time and again. When he learns of the truth behind many events in his life, will he be up to the challenge?**

**Well, here's the first real chapter of the story. Hope you like it.**

_Arc 1: Mysteries_

_Chapter 1: The Ultimate Challenge_

"RANMA YOU IDIOT!"

A cry of rage and a loud crash echoed throughout the school as a raven-haired, pig-tailed martial artist wearing Chinese clothing was sent flying through the roof of the school, sending bits and pieced of the roof and the ceiling he crashed through raining down on some of the other students.

"Stupid tomboy," muttered the airborne figure as he landed several blocks away, right into a fountain.

Climbing out of the fountain, the now red-haired martial artist shook off the excess water from her person as she moved behind the trees. She pulled off her shirt, squeezed out as much of the water as she could, grumbling the entire time about violent tomboys. She put her shirt back on and stepped out from behind the tree, promptly bumping into someone as soon as she did. Her hand quickly shot forward to grab the arm of the one she had bumped into. "I'm sorry," she said immediately. "Are you alright?"

"I'm alright." The pigtailed martial artist helped her regain her balance and while doing so, took the time to examine the girl before her. She looked to be around her age, with strawberry blonde hair tied in a high ponytail that fell down to her back, and soft, sky blue eyes. She wore a loose black blouse, tight fitting jeans and carried a somewhat large backpack. "I should be asking you that. What just happened? You fell from somewhere right into the fountain."

"Don't worry about it, I'm fine," she replied, casually waving it off before she began walking towards the park exit alongside the other girl. "I don't think I've seen you around here before. Now that I think about it, you don't look Japanese. Well, not completely at least."

She smiled softly as she replied. "That's because I'm not. My father is Japanese but my mother is an American. My friends and I came here to complete a task we were given years ago. It was… strange. I mean, it can't be a simple coincidence that three people from different places have been given the same task."

Ranma-chan paused at that, a feeling of dread coming over her at the thought of another fiancée arriving. Possibly more if her friends were the same. "What kind of task?" she asked, fighting off the urge to just make up an excuse to run away and go on a sudden training trip.

"We're traveling to defeat different masters of martial arts. We're looking for the Tendo Dojo to complete the challenge given to us. We met a few months back and we decided to travel together instead. The Tendo Dojo is our second to the last stop before we look for our final opponent. Only the master of the Tendo Dojo would know where to find our final opponent so it's very important that we beat him." At that Ranma-chan sighed in relief but refrained from showing it to her companion. "Would you happen to know where the Dojo might be?"

"I can take you there if you want," Ranma-chan suddenly blurted out before she realized what she said.

At that reply the girl seemed to pause. "Really? You wouldn't happen to be a practitioner there. Would you?"

"Nah, I practice I different style. But pops and I are living there for now. You'll probably be fighting Akane seeing as Mr. Tendo hasn't really practiced the art for a long time."

"Who's Akane?"

Ranma-chan didn't get the chance to reply as someone else joined in the conversation. "Any luck?" asked the newcomer as she approached them from the side. Upon seeing the female Ranma-chan she added, "Who's your new friend?"

Finally realizing that she had never introduced herself she said, "Oh, I'm Ranma. Sorry 'bout that."

The newcomer was dressed similarly to the first had long brown hair tied in a long braid that reached down to her waist and soft brown eyes and was also carrying a backpack similar to the other girl's. "Oh, how rude of me," Said the first. "I haven't even introduced myself. I'm Katsumi and this is my friend…"

"Bianca," finished the brown haired girl as she held out her hand towards Ranma-chan, who simply stared at the hand. "Oh, I forgot. It's called a handshake," she explained as Katsumi took Bianca's hand and shook it firmly. "It's another way of how we greet each other. Anyway, any luck of finding the dojo?"

"Actually, Ranma here offered to guide us there. Apparently she and her father are living there for the time being."

"Really?" Bianca looked towards Ranma-chan who nodded sheepishly as she tugged at her pigtail. "Well, that's convenient. We just have to wait for Belinda to find us before we head over there." The brown-haired girl looked around and spotted an ice cream shop, one that Ranma-chan herself often went to. "Hey, how about we have a little snack while we wait. It's better than just standing around waiting for her."

The other two girls shrugged as the trio walked into the ice cream shop. With a wide smirk on her face Ranma-chan walked up to the counter and, much to the surprise of the other two girls, began to flirt shamelessly with the boy on duty, easily receiving double, if not triple, what she had paid for. The other two girls, not having the courage to do what she did, simply ordered something and took a seat in the booth where Ranma-chan had settled. "I can't believe you did that," they both whispered at the same time, looking almost embarrassed to be seen with her.

"It's alright" Ranma-chan replied nonchalantly. "I do it all the time. They still haven't found a guy who could resist."

"Um… Are you really going to eat all of that?" asked Bianca, only now realizing how much ice cream Ranma-chan had sitting right in front of her. "Aren't you worried about your figure at all?"

"Nah. For as long as I can remember I've been eating a lot and I haven't changed all that much," said Ranma-chan, pausing for a moment to speak then returned to eating her ice cream, restraining herself from eating the way she usually does in front of Katsumi and Bianca, although she still ate slightly faster than the other two. After all, it wouldn't be 'manly' for her to act like a pig in front of new acquaintances. "Anyway, why are you two doing that martial arts challenge anyway?"

"Well," Katsumi began. "My father's carrying on my grandmother's family style and said that this was a test of my skills. He also said that after beating the final master that he would tell us why we were given the test in the first place. The same goes for Bianca and Belinda apparently. At least, I think it's the same for Belinda. She doesn't really talk much and its pointless prying."

"So there you two are." The trio turned towards the emotionless voice that spoke and saw another girl standing there, one that, as Ranma-chan noted, was significantly taller than all three of them, probably almost as tall as her male form. She had midnight black hair that barely reached her shoulders and wore a loose black shirt and black denim pants. Like the other two, she carried a backpack along with a long thin bundle that was slightly taller than she was.

Letting out a frustrated sigh, she said, "I come looking for you and I find you having a snack." Then, when she finally noticed Ranma-chan presence, added, "And it seems you've made a new friend. Care to tell me who she is?"

"Ranma, this is Belinda," Bianca began, as Ranma-chan nodded in acknowledgement before returning to her ice cream. "Belinda, this is Ranma. She and her father are currently staying at the Tendo dojo and she offered to take us there."

"Well, what are we waiting for?" she asked impatiently, obviously not wanting to stay any longer.

"Hey come on, be nice. At least wait until Ranma's done with her ice cream." Both she and Katsumi turned to the pigtailed girl only to find that her bowl was empty whereas they could have sworn it had been still occupied by at least five more scoops of ice cream mere seconds earlier. They blinked owlishly at the disappearing ice cream and they decided that they might be better off not knowing.

Belinda, upon seeing that Ranma's bowl was empty, began to walk towards the door. "It seems she's done," she said on the way to the door. "Let's go. I want to get this thing over with."

With that said, she walked out the door and left the other three still sitting at the booth. "I'm sorry about that Ranma. Belinda's not really the patient type so you'll have to forgive her."

"Forget it. I've seen worse anyway." Ranma-chan stood up from the booth, an action mimicked by Katsumi and Bianca, and began walking towards the exit. "Anyway, we better get going then. Might as well not keep her waiting any longer."

With that they walked out of the ice cream shop where Belinda rejoined them outside. They continued to walk through the streets of Nerima with Ranma in the lead as they made their way to the Tendo Dojo. Along the way they engaged in some small talk with Ranma asking them various questions ranging from the challenge they were here for to how they liked the town so far.

Apparently all three girls came from families which had some sort of family style or were well known martial artists and their parents had been offered a challenge that they, the girls, would carry out at anytime they thought they were ready. Their fathers stated that they knew what reward they would receive but didn't tell them and said that they would leave it to the final master to tell them.

Halfway to their destination, Ranma-chan heard someone yelling several blocks down. Unfortunately for her it wasn't a cry for help. Rather, a cry of outrage and frustration. "WHERE THE HELL AM I NOW?" Fortunately because of the distance, only Ranma-chan heard the yelling. Unfortunately for her they turned a corner and a certain bandana clad boy who carried a large backpack was facing their direction. Even from a distance she was easily recognizable because of her trademark clothing and her hair, both of which almost always stood out. Having spotted his rival in the distance he yelled out, "RANMA! BECAUSE OF YOU I'VE SEEN HELL. PREPARE TO DIE!"

Ranma-chan watched this all from a distance and sighed as Ryoga began to run towards her. "What a time for him to show up," she muttered quite loudly, all three girls behind her hearing what she said. She turned to them and said, "Sorry about this, girls. It won't take long. Unless of course he's gone through some kind of training then it might take a while."

Without even waiting for a reply from the three girls she turned around and began to sprint towards Ryoga's direction as well. Neither one of them said a word as they approached each other at blinding speeds, a speed that shocked the three female martial artists watching them. The silence was broken when the pair met at an intersection where Ryoga delivered the first punch. Unfortunately for him Ranma-chan flowed around the punch and kicked his head from behind, sending him sprawling onto the hard cement. He quickly recovered and rushed towards Ranma, ready to smash her face in with a punch.

As the pair continued to fight, Katsumi, Bianca and Belinda had moved towards them for a better view of the fight. What they saw completely shocked all three of them to the core. They were fairly good martial artists, very good if they were to be honest. They had defeated numerous masters of martial arts around the world after all. The level of skill being displayed before their eyes weren't all that suprising at all. It was the simple fact that there were others as good as they were. Not even the last master they had visited showed this much skill in a fight.

As they watched the fight, all of them were silently hoping that the next master, or at least the last master, would show just as much skill as Ranma-chan was showing right at that moment. However, it was not to be said that the previous masters were weak. They were all outstanding in skill and ability but none of them showed as much skill as the pair fighting before them. They cringed as they saw Ranma-chan receive a punch to the abdomen and sent sprawling onto the pavement, creating a deep trench along the way.

They watched as she jumped out of the trench just as the other boy landed right where she was with a fist planted where her face had been. "Is that the best you can do P-chan?" They heard Ranma-chan taunt, a grin clearly seen on her face. "I've seen pandas that can fight better than that."

Even from a distance they could hear the boy growling as he yelled back in anger. "Shut up Ranma!" He yelled out, lashing out with a kick that was easily avoided as well as the flurry of punches that followed. "I'll kill you for making Akane cry." Katsumi's face scrunched up in confusion when she heard that name, wondering where she'd heard it before. "Now stand still and take your punishment like a man!"

"Do I look like a guy to you?" She yelled back as she caught his arm from an overextended punch. This gave her the opportunity to throw him over the chain link fence and straight into the canal below them. "See you around P-chan," she yelled to the black pig that resurfaced along with Ryoga's backpack. She dusted off her hands and turned around to come to face her three companions. "Sorry about that," she said and walked over to them. "That was just Ryoga."

"What the hell was that about?" Bianca nearly screeched into her ear. "That guy just tried to kill you and you act like nothing happened. You should report him to the police for attempted murder."

Ranma-chan just raised an eyebrow and pointed to the area around them where numerous walls were broken down and the streets had deep trenches and craters in them. "In case you didn't notice, we practically tore this area apart. You really think the police can do something about him? Believe me, they've tried doing that almost two years ago and nothing good came out of it. Even if I did help and he is put into jail he'd probably get lost inside his own cell and end up on another planet." That statement drew an inquisitive look from one, and two slightly grinning faces from the other two. "Besides, it's my problem so just let me take care of it."

Both Katsumi and Bianca looked unsure of what to do regarding the situation but after seeing Ranma-chan take care of him by herself, they decided that she would be able to take care of herself. Off to the side they could see Belinda struggling with something.

"How heavy is this damn thing?" They heard her muttering and went over to see what she was talking about. "It's like it weighs a ton."

Upon spying what it was she was having trouble with, Ranma-chan said, "It's not that heavy. Though it might be pretty close for all I know." This reply earned her strange looks from all three of them. "Ryoga must have dropped it while we were fighting. I'll have to give it back to him when I see him again."

Walking over to the fallen umbrella, Ranma-chan picked it up with moderate difficulty, staggering slightly at the weight of the umbrella as she supported it with her shoulder. "It's heavier than last time though," she muttered to herself. Turning around to face the trio behind her she said, "Come on. I'll show you guys to the Tendo Dojo before someone else comes along."

Not really knowing how to interpret that statement, the three girls followed the redhead as she walked down the street once more, acting as though nothing had happened. That or she was used to being attacked. But that couldn't be true, right? The girls looked at each other with strange looks on their faces, well, Katsumi and Bianca at least. Belinda didn't even seem to care.

Switching to English, Katsumi and Bianca began to voice their opinions to each other. **"Don't you think that it's strange that she doesn't even seem slightly bothered by what just happened?" **Bianca asked Katsumi as they slowed a bit to trail behind Ranma-chan a bit more before returning to their original pace.

"**More like she doesn't even care. I mean, some guy tried to kill you and you wave it off just like that? She's taking this too lightly. What if the guy comes back with a gun the next time? She could get hurt."**

"**Or worse."**

"**Maybe you two should stop worrying," **interrupted Belinda in the same uncaring tone, still walking slightly ahead of them. **"She said it herself, it's her problem to deal with. And it's not like we'll be staying here once we complete the challenge. After this we'll be heading out to wherever the final master is."**

"**But…"**

"**No buts this time," **she stated firmly. Both girls behind her knew that had she been facing them she would have been giving them a fierce glare. **"Frankly, we're better off not knowing what the problem is. The last time we stayed around to help someone we ended up nearly being killed. If you two want to stay and play bodyguard or something then go ahead. Just leave me out of it. I went through with this challenge because I wanted to see what was waiting at the other end, not to go around saving people when they needed my help. I'll help if I feel like it but that's all."**

The other two instantly knew that the topic was officially closed and that discussing it further while Belinda was there was out of the question. They turned their gaze back to the pigtailed martial artist leading them through the streets, and watched as she walked quietly, occasionally shifting the half-ton umbrella supported on her shoulder.

Up front, Ranma-chan was somewhat surprised but kept herself from saying anything. She had learned to understand the English language a few short months ago. It wasn't perfect but she understood more than she could speak. 'It's weird,' she thought as they continued to walk in silence. 'I certainly hope they do stay out of this. I have enough problems keeping anyone from getting hurt by my fights. Don't want to have to try and convince them to stay out of it if they do try to help. But Belinda's right though. They'd be better off not knowing if they'll only be here for a while. They don't need to get involved in my problems. Heck, just being with me is bound to cause them problems.'

In a few short minutes they had arrived at the Tendo Dojo where Ranma-chan invited them in after she called out that she was home. She took off her shoes while the other three girls watched this, shrugged and did the same. "Welcome back Ranma." They had not even gone two steps when an older girl, one with long brown hair, and wearing a modest dress and an apron, greeted them. "Oh my, we have guests. Are they friends of yours Ranma?"

"Well… you could say that. Actually, they're here to see Mr. Tendo. Girls, this is Kasumi. Kasumi, this is Katsumi, Bianca and Belinda. And for once I didn't bring back someone looking for me or pops." The three girls were confused by this statement but Kasumi giggled so the three girls assumed it was an inside joke. "Anyway, is he here? Or is he out drinking again with my old man?"

"Father is inside but Uncle Genma went out earlier. I'll go tell father that he has guests." With that she walked off after she bowed to their three guests.

"She seems nice," Katsumi commented as they followed Ranma-chan into the household.

"Yeah, she is. She's probably the nicest person you'll ever meet. Anyway, Mr. Tendo's home so you should be able to speak with him." They soon arrived at the living room where they found Mr. Tendo sitting at the table, obviously waiting for his guests to arrive. "Well, that's him."

The three girls sat at the table across from him as Ranma-chan sat outside but still listened to their conversation. "Good afternoon. I am Soun Tendo. How may I help you?"

"I'm Katsumi Nishimoto," began Katsumi, bowing to the man. "And these are my companions Bianca Grant and Belinda Morgan." Both girls bowed as well when they were introduced. "We were told to give you this letter so that we may be able to complete a task given to us."

Soun watched as she pulled out a brown envelope from her backpack. She placed it on the table where he picked it up and turned it around only for his eyes to widen slightly. "I'm sorry girls but it seems there is a mistake," he said, not noticing the surprised looks they were giving him as he placed the letter back down and slid it over to their side. At that moment, the doorbell rang and Kasumi walked past them to answer the door. "The address is correct but it was addressed to a different person. Exactly what was it that you were told?"

"Well, we were told to come here to the Tendo Dojo and give this letter to the master we would find there. Seeing as you are the owner of the dojo we thought it would be you."

"I see. If you had read the name it is addressed to, you would see that I am not the master you are searching for. But you are quite fortunate because he happens to be a good friend of mine. He should be returning soon." Just then, at that moment, two people entered the room accompanied by Kasumi. "Ah, Saotome there you are. It would seem that these three were sent here to deliver a letter to you."

"WHAT?!" Everyone, save for Kasumi, jumped at the sudden exclamation that came from the red-haired girl. "Mr. Tendo, are you sure about that? I mean, why would another master of the art send them to him? He's nothing but a good for nothing panda. I'm surprised they even know about him for a reason other than stealing a scroll from them or something like that."

The three girls were quite shocked at this. 'How could she speak about her own father like that?' They all thought as they watched her continue to rant at the impossibility of the situation. They turned to the large man that had entered and regarded him carefully. By his physical looks alone one would normally not think of him as a master of martial arts but the three of them knew better than that. If the previous master was right then this man would be their hardest challenge to date.

If Ranma-chan were to be believed then his skills probably deteriorated over the years or she had simply not seen what he could truly do. And therein laid the problem they were faced with. If Ranma-chan was as good as she was and she underestimated her own father then they would probably stand little chance of victory if they fought one-on-one. Their only hope was that if the man's skill had deteriorated. But they knew that there was little chance of that.

Genma, for his part, simply ignored what Ranma-chan had to say as he also examined the three girls in front of him. 'So these three have managed to make it this far. Only two people stand in their way and I have no intention of letting them pass so easily. But if they win then I will know that all these years of waiting have paid off.'

Seeing that his son turned daughter's ranting wasn't going to stop any time soon, he simply ignored it and turned his attention to the three girls in front of him. "So, you three were sent here by Master Saito?" The three nodded in reply. "I see. Very well then. What are your names?" The three introduced themselves once again as Ranma-chan stopped ranting at the way Genma was speaking. "Very well then. Shall we do the test now or would you like more time to prepare?"

Looking to her two companions and receiving a nod from both, Katsumi said, "We'd like to take the test now if possible."

"Very well. There is an empty lot not far from here. Meet me there in half an hour and bring whatever you will need. I'll need to call someone who needs to be there. Ranma can show you the way if you want while I make the necessary preparations. Will that be alright?"

The three girls nodded as Ranma-chan began to walk out of the room. She stopped beside Genma and whispered just loud enough for only him to hear, "I don't know what's going on but you better have a good reason for this." With that said she left the room, followed by the three girls as they bowed politely to everyone in the room before leaving.

The walk to the empty lot where Ranma-chan often fought was a quiet one. All three of them could tell that Ranma-chan was in a bad mood, obviously because of what was happening although they weren't sure of the exact reason. They reached the empty lot in a few minutes and waited at the sides for Genma to arrive while Ranma-chan simply sat there and muttered darkly about stupid pandas.

A few minutes later a familiar figure jumped off a nearby roof and landed close to where they were. Ranma-chan was quick to react upon seeing who it was. "Hey," she yelled out as she jumped to her feet. "Don't you dare touch 'em you old letch or I'll-"

"Relax Ranma. I'm not here for that. I'm here because Genma asked me to come here to be a witness to some fight." This seemed to surprise Ranma-chan as she was taken aback by the tone of voice the aging Grandmaster had used. She had never seen him this serious before, especially with four females around him. He simply sat down with them, waiting for Genma to arrive as well.

'What's going on here?' Ranma-chan asked herself mentally as she too sat back down. 'First some guy tells these three to see pops for their next opponent, he accepts the challenge, and now Happosai comes along and isn't groping any of us. What's going on here pops? What are you playing at?'

About twenty minutes later everyone else arrived at the empty lot. The group was led by Genma and Nodoka while Akane, Soun and Nabiki were following them, the latter three with confused looks on their faces. They walked directly to where Ranma and the others were waiting, Akane and Nabiki wary of the perverted martial artist.

"So Genma," Happosai began as they stopped walking in front of them. "These three are the ones you've told me about?" At the nod he turned to the three girls beside him and addressed them. "Well then, first of all I'd like to congratulate you three for making it this far. Out of the many who have been given this challenge, you three are the first to arrive. Although some of the others are already here, they have not yet qualified to take the Assistant Master's challenge. Now, I don't need to tell you what is at stake should you lose but for the sake of everyone else I might as well. If you fail to pass this test then you will have to begin your journey from the very beginning once again. In short you will have to take those test that you have already passed and make your way up to this point once again."

"Now, normally the test would be a one-on-one match up against Genma, who is the master of the Saotome School. However, the letter we received from Master Saito said that you three have exceptional skill and he believes that you are qualified to take the Master's challenge directly. Personally, I don't think you should take it seeing as I do not know your skill level, and your opponent for the Master's test is quite powerful if I do say so myself." Ranma-chan scoffed at this as Happosai proudly puffed his chest out.

"I will give you the choice though so you may decide if you wish to take the Master's test. Before you decide, I would like to point out that the conditions for victory of the Assistant Master's test and the Master's test are different and I will only tell you what those conditions are once you have decided. Take as much time as you need to decide but take heed of my warning."

The three girls looked to each other to see what the others have decided. Katsumi and Bianca were obviously unsure of what to do. Only Belinda seemed certain of her decision. "I'll take the Master's challenge directly," she said without hesitation, shocking the other two girls as they had yet to discuss what their decision would be. The other two weren't all too worried because they knew that Belinda was the best among the three of them. But they still worried because they could feel the power of the old man.

His aura dwarfed everyone else's own due to his power. Belinda was good but they weren't sure if she could beat him. They had learned long ago how to sense and use chi, but only to an extent. They could use it to boost their power and speed as well as protect their body from the worst of an attack. However, in all their travels, they had never met anyone with such power before and that gave them enough reason to worry.

Happosai looked the girl over, trying to determine whether or not she even had a chance of succeeding. What he saw came as no surprise to him, having expected as much already. She had potential, that much was for certain. Her chi reserves were adequate and would probably last long enough for her to achieve victory. However, the question was, did she have what it takes to achieve victory?

"Very well then. And I assume you two would rather wait then?" Receiving nods in return, he nodded back as he turned to face the raven-haired girl. "Very well then. Your task, would not be to defeat your opponent because I highly doubt you would be able to beat him. No, your task is to get your opponent to use one of his special attacks, one that requires the use of chi. Of course, speed and strength augmentation and body hardening does not count. Do you understand?"

Belinda nodded as she set down her backpack and began to unwrap the mysterious package she was carrying. It turned out to be a bo staff, made of wood with a thin sheet of metal covering four inches on both ends as well as six inches of the center. "Understood. And I presume that you are to be my opponent?"

Happosai's eyes seemed to widen a bit at that as he let out a hearty laugh. "Me? Oh dear me, you must be mistaken. I may be the Grandmaster of the Anything Goes but there is still someone better than me. And he has yet to achieve master status." This came as a shock to everyone present, including Genma who thought that Happosai was to be their final challenger as they had discussed years before. "No, your opponent is none other than the heir to the School of Anything Goes and Genma's own son, Ranma Saotome"

_END CHAPTER 1_

**So… How was it? I certainly hope you guys liked it. Anyway, Ranma may or may not be paired with anyone in this fic as I'm still unsure of having romance in this story. Tell me what you think though. Should I or should I not? Of course, the girl he'll end up with is a secret. All I'll tell you is that it won't be Akane. I've seen enough Ranma/ Akane pairings and I don't intend on making one as well. **

**Once again, please click on the 'GO' button at the bottom of the page and leave a review telling me what you think of the story as well as your vote of if I should throw in some romance or not. Thank you. Until next time.**


	3. Arc 1 Chapter 2

Terms of Engagement

By Overlord of Order

**SUMMARY: ****Many things have happened over the course of Ranma's life. But he soon learns that things were not as they first appeared, a lesson he has learned time and again. When he learns of the truth behind many events in his life, will he be up to the challenge?**

**Wow, so many reviews. O.O**

**Thanks for all the reviews. I'll be sure to keep updating this story seeing as everyone seems to like it. Anyway, here's the second chapter.**

_Previously:_

Happosai's eyes seemed to widen a bit at that as he let out a hearty laugh. "Me? Oh dear me, you must be mistaken. I may be the Grandmaster of the Anything Goes but there is still someone better than me. And he has yet to achieve master status." This came as a shock to everyone present, including Genma who thought that Happosai was to be their final challenger as they had discussed years before. "No, your opponent is none other than the heir to the School of Anything Goes and Genma's own son, Ranma Saotome."

_Arc 1: Mysteries_

_Chapter 2: The Final Test_

There was a stunned silence at that proclamation. Everyone seemed to stop moving and turned to stare at the diminutive Grandmaster, even Ranma-chan herself was found staring at him.

The silence didn't last long as Ranma-chan broke it by voicing her thoughts. "A-Are you serious old man?" She asked shakily, the look of disbelief all over her face. "Y-Y-You're kidding. R-Right?"

"No, I'm quite serious about this Ranma." Happosai turned on his feet and looked up to look Ranma-chan directly at the face. "I admit, I underestimated you when we first met and didn't give my all in the fight. As time passed and you grew stronger, I had to train harder in order to keep up with your vast improvements. Not only did you earn my respect, but you also managed to learn two Amazon techniques. Three if you count the Soul of Ice. No one outside the tribe has ever learned an Amazon technique, especially not from the Matriarch herself. The Hibiki boy has also gone through the Breaking Point training but unlike you, he has ties to the Amazons, something only Cologne and the Amazon Council are aware of."

"Wait, Ryoga has ties to the Amazons?"

"That's right," he replied to Nabiki, who had voiced the question. "Ryoga happens to be the descendant of an Amazon who lived long ago, long before Cologne was Matriarch. She and Cologne were friends and much like Ryoga, the woman had a bad sense of direction. She got lost one day and never came back. Cologne knew of this, which is why she trained Ryoga after realizing that he was the great grandchild of her lost friend. Both as a favor to her friend as well as to see what Ranma would do in response to Ryoga's training."

"So, Ryoga's an Amazon?"

"Correct Ranma. But we're straying from the topic. As I was saying, I had to continuously train in order to keep up with you. However, no matter how long I trained you would always end up the better fighter. You have something that I lost a long time ago. Something that was needed in order to be a true master of Anything Goes."

"What was that?" Ranma-chan asked with a skeptic look on her face. Even the others, save for the trio of girls, were having trouble believing the words coming out of Happosai's mouth.

"Adaptability." Seeing that nobody understood what he meant, he expanded on his answer. "As you know, Anything Goes was created using a mixture of all styles, utilizing one style to take away the weakness of another. But even then, Anything Goes has its own weakness. That is, failure to adapt. Because it uses different styles, discipline is necessary in order to retain everything that you learn and not forget about the other styles."

"But then again too much discipline will lead to stiffness. I'm not saying that discipline is a bad thing mind you. You would only resort to what you've already learned and ignore unorthodox methods, which could possibly save your life. Take the Kuno boy for example. He uses the same pattern each and every time because of too much discipline to his preferred art. He no longer has the element of surprise and could be beaten even before his first strike."

"Ranma, on the other hand, is much too unpredictable. He never thinks-" This elicited a yell from the boy turned girl and loud snickers from the others. "-And simply acts on instinct. He is disciplined enough but is also flexible enough so as not to be held down by the weakness of discipline. Much like Genma, he would not think twice to resort to unorthodox methods such as distractions as such in order to achieve victory. He would seduce you he deemed it necessary to attain victory." This earned another round of snickers. "Although, he does have morals of his own and I doubt he would resort to blackmail and hostages even if it meant victory. Ranma lives true to the name Anything Goes."

"So you're saying that I could already be the Grandmaster if I wanted to?"

"Of course. I'm quite surprised you never asked."

"Wait, wait back up there." Everyone turned to the brown haired girl when she cut in, a slightly confused look on her face. "You said we were fighting Mr. Saotome's son. Right?" Happosai nodded. "Then, why is Ranma here acting like it's her? I mean, other than the same name I don't think she'd pass for a boy."

It seemed as though Happosai ignored her as he turned to Ranma-chan. "You mean they don't know?" He asked, quietly enough for the three girls not to hear. She discreetly shook her head in reply. "I see." He thought about the situation for a moment. "Well, I'll leave it to you to tell them then. You should go get Ranma and bring him here for the fight."

Ranma-chan picked up on the hint, nodded and bound off to look for her brother, or rather, hot water. As they watched her run off, Katsumi voiced out what she thought the reason was. "Doesn't the name get confusing? I mean, she thought you were talking about her when you were talking about her brother."

"No, not exactly. You see, both she and her brother are equal their differences being in speed and strength. Ranma-chan is faster than her brother to compensate for being physically weaker than him. While she can land more hits, the boy's hits hurt far more. And while she can avoid hits easier, he can take much more punishment than she can. Therefore, you see, they are both quite equal. I've yet to see a fight between them where one overpowered the other."

The last statement was no lie at least. Only a half-lie seeing as it would be impossible to see a fight like that, unless Ranma and his cursed form were separated from each other. A few minutes later, a now male Ranma returned, holding a thermos in one hand. "So," he began. "Who am I fighting this time?"

"Ah, Ranma m'boy. Where's Ranma?" Happosai asked simply for the sake of appearances.

"She just told me to come by here and that I had challenger then left for somewhere. Who is it this time? Some guy who wants to prove he's the best, some guy with a grudge or some guy who likes a girl pops engaged me to?"

The questions confused the trio of girls but upon noticing that the others didn't seem surprised by this made them think that this was a common occurrence. "None of the above actually." Happosai then explained the situation and how Belinda decided to take the Master's test directly. Ranma simply waved it all off, having heard this already. This however made Belinda somewhat mad that he would just ignore everything. "Now then, we'll start with the Assistant Master's test. Who will be going first then?"

Bianca volunteered to go first and stepped forward onto the field upon Happosai's nod, followed closely by Genma as he walked onto the field as well. "Hey, aren't you going to fight instead since I'm taking your place?"

"Not necessarily Ranma. I have my reasons."

This seemed to satisfy Ranma as he turned to watch the oncoming fight with a calculating eye. Inside though he wasn't satisfied with the answer. After all, why would Happosai entrust Genma with such a task? It made no sense to him so he opted to watch this fight carefully, making sure to watch Genma extra carefully.

"Alright, this fight shall determine whether you are ready to proceed to the final test," Happosai announced, mostly towards Bianca. "There will be no killing blows and the fight ends when one ends up unconscious, is unable to fight or by my jurisdiction. Understood?" Both combatants nodded as he raised one arm up. Bringing it down swiftly, he yelled, "BEGIN!"

Bianca was quickly on the offensive, a determined look on her face that said quite clearly that she would not lose. Within a few short seconds, she was within striking range and began to rain down on Genma with lightning fast punches and kicks, each one flowing into another and leaving no openings in her defense for Genma to exploit. Attacking, however, seemed to be the last thing on Genma's mind right now as he effortlessly avoided each and every one of her strikes, jumping back to avoid a leg sweep. Once again, he waited as she sized him up once more, obviously having underestimated the older man's speed.

'Ok, I really don't get it now.' Ranma narrowed his eyes as he watched Bianca charge in once again, initiating another barrage not unlike his own. Each strike was aimed towards one of two things. An unguarded area, or a vital area. Moreover, each strike was done in a way that there would be no openings in the attacker's defense while doing so. 'If I'm right she should be as good as I was just before I fought Saffron but unless she knows some chi attacks she's below Herb. In terms of skill maybe she could last long enough against Herb but not if he uses chi blasts or flies. I really don't get it though. What's pops doing? I've never seen him fighting like this before. He hasn't even attacked once.'

Beside him, Katsumi cheered her friend on while Belinda carefully assessed Genma's skill in order to get a better idea on Ranma's skill. What she saw annoyed her. Though his speed and reflexes were exceptional, she still didn't get a chance to see him while on the offensive. It was as if he knew what she was doing. Then again, it was pretty obvious what she was doing. Beside her, although cheering loudly, Katsumi was also evaluating Genma, she knew that much at least.

She had seen a side of Katsumi that Bianca had not seen, even though Bianca had been traveling with Katsumi for a few months longer. Katsumi had only shown that side of her once and has yet to show it again. However, as she gazed into the shorter girl's eyes she could see a small hint of her other half watching the fight, eagerly awaiting her turn.

Among the three of them, she knew that she could beat the other two at the same time. However, after seeing what Katsumi was truly capable of she doubted she could take on both at the same time. In a one on one fight, they were probably even.

Turning her attention back to the fight, she managed to catch the end of the fight where Genma intercepted a punch. He quickly spun beneath her arm and lifted her over his shoulder. The action obviously caught Bianca by surprise, as her eyes were wide during the descent. She slammed into the ground as Genma punched towards her face, stopping millimeters away from her nose.

Katsumi stopped cheering while both Ranma and Belinda smirked, obviously knowing what it was that Bianca did wrong. Even Happosai spotted that mistake earlier on, having already deduced that Genma would end it quickly rather than reveal anything to his next opponent.

Genma wasn't worried about revealing anything to Belinda as Ranma was on a completely different league. Although he did feel slightly bad that the girl would have to go through everything once again, he would at least tell her what mistakes she made. Helping the still stunned girl up after his victory was announced, he walked her back to her friends. It was clear to them that she was distraught at the prospect of losing after having come so far already. Years of training and traveling, all wasted in a few short minutes.

"Ms. Grant." Bianca looked up as her name was called and her eyes locked onto Genma's own as he looked down at her with a face not unlike the kind her father would use when training her. "Don't feel too bad about losing. Your mistake was falling on a pattern, just as Master Happosai explained earlier. You resort to one series of attacks, as I've noticed, then if that fails you deliver another series of attacks, completely different from the first. But all you have are three and after the third you go back to the first. Your speed and skill are both exceptional but you will need to learn not to think too far ahead in a fight. You became frustrated at the fact that you have yet to hit me that you expected to hit me with the next punch and if not, then the next."

"He's right." Beside her Belinda agreed. "You have to be more careful. You could have won if you hadn't fallen into a pattern, I can tell you that much. Personally having to start over is a good thing for you. That way you wouldn't have to rely on Katsumi so much when training. You should never rely on anyone anyway. They'll only hurt you in the end. Regardless of whether it was directly, indirectly, intentional or unintentional, they will hurt you in the end."

Genma and Happosai seemed to frown at that way of thinking while Ranma appeared to be in deep thought as though suddenly deciding whether it was true or not. If someone were to look closely, however, they would see a small hint of agreement in his eyes.

Clearing his throat, Happosai said, "Well, now we'll have the next fight then."

Without having to be told, Genma walked to the center of the lot once more while Katsumi dropped her backpack and pulled out something. It was a sheathed katana, Ranma quickly noticed, one that was a few inches longer than his mother's was and it seemed to be slightly rounder than usual. She pulled out another one, making it a matching pair.

The sheaths were made of wood although Ranma suspected there was some kind of material inside to prevent the katana from cutting through the sheath. He watched as she strapped it to her back in a cross shape and pulled out the two katanas from the top, a strange sound of metal against metal ringing through the air that made Ranma, Genma and Happosai suspicious.

She walked to the center of the lot with a passive look on her face as she faced off against Genma in a ready stance. Happosai said the very same things and soon, the fight began. This time around, Ranma watched both fighters while Belinda was inwardly grinning as she watched Genma dodge the blades and upon managing to get behind Katsumi, delivered a few punches and kicks that were easily avoided by the blonde-haired woman as they both jumped away from each other. Barely a second after touching down, they both charged each other once again and engaged into a blindingly fast dance of steel and flesh. At the sidelines only Ranma, Happosai, Belinda and Bianca could follow the fight while the others saw nothing more than a blur of flesh and steel.

"They're evenly matched," Ranma commented towards Happosai, who nodded sagely in return. "What's the point of all this anyway? Is there some kind of Martial Arts council that I'm not aware of?"

"No, this isn't as serious as something like that. Let's just say that those who are in this erm… competition will definitely be shocked when they find out what prize awaits those who finish."

"In short, a martial arts competition where the prize in unknown."

"More or less."

"So," he began again, curiosity getting the best of him. "What is this mysterious prize anyway?"

Happosai, knowing that Belinda and Bianca were listening in on their conversation, replied, "It's… one of a kind, to say the least. Not a single one of it exists anywhere else in the world. The winners, if more than one manages to complete the task, will have to share the prize. Of course, if they can get the prize all to themselves then they'll probably, note, probably, be the happiest person alive if I do say so myself. Of course, it depends on how they view this prize. Even after the complete the task they will still have to earn the right to keep their uh… prize."

Something about the way Happosai said it made Ranma uneasy but he shook it off as having to fight numerous martial artists and not rely on his chi-based attacks. He certainly hoped that Belinda, or any of the other competitors in fact, didn't have any chi-based attacks of their own. Otherwise he'd have to come up with a way around that obstacle.

Back to the fight, Genma was now sporting a few shallow cuts while Katsumi had a few bruises. Both weren't breathing too hard but were short of breath for the time being. "My, it's been a while since I've had this much fun." This statement caused everyone some confusion while Belinda could only smirk. The tone used in the statement was nothing Bianca had ever heard from Katsumi. The voice was hers but at the same time, it wasn't. "Perhaps I'll finally get to enjoy myself."

With that, she charged forward with renewed vigor, brandishing the twin katanas like an expert as she slashed and stabbed all the while keeping her defenses tightly shut to prevent a counter-attack. Genma noticed this and couldn't help but feel proud of the young woman he was fighting against. But regardless of whether or not she had an opening didn't matter. He would not let her pass without a fight. Avoiding an overhead slash, he quickly moved to the right, causing the sword to become embedded into the earth. He quickly dropped down and attempted to sweep her legs off the ground but she flipped over the leg easily, using the momentum from the previous strike to vault over the sword stuck on the ground. Landing on the ground, she pulled out her sword and began to move away as he executed a powerful combo which connected with her unguarded side.

Katsumi was sent flying forward but flipped around in the air and managed to land properly on the ground. Seeing her charging towards him in the exact same manner, Genma inwardly frowned at the implications that she was no better than the last one. As he prepared to counter her first series of strikes, he was shocked when Katsumi had instead, thrown the two swords toward him. Knowing he wouldn't have time to move in either direction, he purposely leaned backwards, far enough for him to drop to the ground with a small thud as the swords sailed past his head.

He was about to get back up when two katanas were suddenly placed on either side of his neck, the blades crossing just above his head, as he saw Katsumi standing right behind his head's position. Had she opted to stand over his body instead, he would have had a chance but with the position now, moving would only lead to his death. Happosai saw this as well and declared Katsumi as the winner.

Ranma and Happosai were surprised by that maneuver at first. Throwing her weapons like that was a gamble but they understood soon after that she wasn't taking too much of a risk. Right after she threw the two katanas away, she reached behind her and pulled out two more. It was then that they both realized what the strange sound was from earlier and why the sheaths were longer than usual.

The bottom of each sheath had been the hilt of another katana, making it appear as though they were longer when in reality, there were two swords sharing one sheath. Both were wondering how that was possible as the sheaths didn't look any different, save for the fact that it was slightly rounder that normal. This confused them as a round sheath didn't really make too much of a difference. Meaning that if they were to put the two blades in, the tips of the swords would meet each other inside the sheath.

As Genma and Katsumi approached them, Katsumi gave them a strange look and said, "Excuse me, but what just happened?" Everyone, including Belinda, gave her surprised looks with a hint of disbelief. "I remember fighting then suddenly blacking out. Then I woke up just now. Did I lose?"

"Katsumi." Belinda stepped forward and placed a hand on the other girl's shoulder. "Are you sure you don't remember?" A shake of the head was her only reply. "I see. I'll explain later," she told everyone. "For now it's my turn." She then walked to the center of the lot, bo staff in hand, with a slightly amused look on her face

Ranma looked down to Happosai who nodded in return. Nodding back, Ranma walked towards where Belinda was waiting and stood there, hands in his pockets as Belinda dropped into a balanced stance. "Aren't you going to get into a stance or anything like that?" She asked, curiosity getting the better of her upon seeing that he didn't seem prepared.

"I already am."

"Alright then, this is the Master's Test. Should Ranma utilize any chi-based attack then Belinda will be declared the victor. Should Belinda be knocked unconscious or is rendered incapable of fighting then Ranma shall be declared the victor."

"And if I knock him out before he uses a chi attack?"

"Don't worry, you won't," Happosai replied with a grin that said that knocking him out would be impossible. This only served to make her more determined to knock him out just to prove him wrong. "Are you both ready?" He asked. As they nodded in confirmation he yelled, "Begin!"

Instead of the sudden rush of attacks that the others expected, both fighters stood their ground, patiently waiting for the other to make the first move and the first mistake. Both fighters waited patiently for the other to attack. Belinda, waiting in a stance while Ranma stood casually in front of her. This seemed to annoy Belinda. 'Does he really take me so lightly simply because he thinks he has reached the level of a Grandmaster?' She thought, 'I'll make sure he regrets it.'

The thoughts running through Ranma's head were different. In fact, his mind wasn't even on the fight. 'I wonder when Mousse is gonna attack me again?' He thought, completely oblivious to Belinda's analytical gaze. 'Then again, I should be worrying about the old ghoul and her potions and stuff. She hasn't tried anything so far and I doubt she'll stay quiet for so long. She's never gone this long without trying anything. Whatever she's planning must be big. Either that or she's given up but with my luck… I don't think so.'

He wasn't even aware that Belinda had thrown several knives in his direction, purposely aiming her throw so as to only pass him closely, but not enough to even cut him, in order to gauge his reaction. She was surprised when he didn't even move, and the knives passed him by, mere millimeters away from his skin. Not even the one that she threw between his legs, hoping to scare him by aiming close to his groin, had earned even the slightest reaction.

'Impressive,' she thought, her respect for the martial artist growing slightly. 'Perhaps he truly has a reason to take this fight so lightly'

"I'm impressed." She said out loud, gaining his attention. "Tell me something. How did you know that those knives weren't going to hit you?"

"Huh?" He looked around him but found not a single knife. "Knives? What are you talking about?"

Belinda resisted the urge to fall while all the others found the ground easily at what he said. "You mean you didn't even notice?"

"Notice what?"

Belinda growled lightly at that. He had avoided those knives out of sheer luck. The respect he had earned was lost. Belinda tensed slightly, ready to attack for real this time. Ranma saw her tense and sensed her chi react just before she rushed towards him. She got within range of him and began a series of lightning fast thrusts with enough power behind them to take someone's head clean off their shoulders. But even with how fast she was attacking, Ranma was just as fast and was easily avoiding all her attacks by simply tilting his head to one side then another before twisting his body this way and that.

This slightly annoyed the raven-haired martial artist as he had the gall to smile. 'Then again,' she thought with a small smile of her own, 'He wouldn't have gotten this good if he didn't enjoy martial arts or fighting for that matter. Perhaps I _have_ found the perfect opponent.'

She stopped thrusting the staff and made with a horizontal attack that Ranma jumped over easily. He was, however, nearly caught with the other end of the staff when it sailed right past his chin, avoiding it only because he quickly leaned his head back just enough for the tip of the staff to fly by. He landed on his feet but had to jump up once more when the staff nearly smashed into his side, which would have been painful because of both the metal covering at the tips and the speed. This time he landed far enough from Belinda as he got into a proper defensive stance.

This proved to be useful as Belinda's speed seemed to have increased, forcing him to block her strikes more than avoid them. Most of the time he used the steel bracers he wore, having replaced the leather ones a few months back, to block an attack but he often found that he had to use his bare hands to stop the staff before they hit him. His hands stung because of that but he had at least managed to land a few solid blows on Belinda.

She had definitely earned Ranma's respect in that regard. He had yet to meet a single female who could take even one of his punches in male form, let alone several. He no longer had any problems with fighting a girl, but he still had reservations when it came to hitting them in the face. Something about doing that just screamed out to Ranma in a way that promised him immense pain if he did go through with it. And never one not to trust his instincts, he never did punch a girl in the face.

'Damn, she's fast,' he thought. 'I'll need to be faster. But the only way to do that is-' Ranma grumbled as thunder rumbled overhead before a brief, very brief, rain shower occurred. Strangely enough, the rain seemed to be an isolated shower seeing as only the side of town Ranma was on got wet, leaving everyone else dry. This in turn triggered the aquatransexual's curse for everyone to see. "-To change," se, now a she, finished out loud before looking up at the sky. "I HOPE YOU'RE HAPPY," she yelled up into they sky before turning to look at his stunned opponent. "I'll explain later. Let's just fight."

Ranma-chan, always one to take advantage of a situation, rushed towards her opponent with speed that equaled Belinda's own. Belinda didn't understand what had just happened except for the fact that Ranma changed into a girl, the girl they knew as Ranma. The girl they thought was his sister. 'Just as the Grandmaster said,' she thought upon receiving a punch aimed at her solar plexus, causing her to double over in pain. 'She is weaker than her male version, but now she's much faster. But as he said, she's weaker now. A few hard hits should be enough to knock her out.'

She, however, had underestimated Ranma-chan. Because their speed was now evened out Ranma could easily avoid the attacks just as she had earlier when Belinda wasn't going at full speed.

It thrilled Ranma-chan to know that there was someone out there that could give him this much of a challenge, even if she was a girl. That was another reason she stuck to the art for so long. She denied it for so long but now she can easily admit it. She enjoyed it. She enjoyed not only practicing martial arts but she enjoyed fighting as well. Especially against opponents that were stronger than she was or at least as good as she was.

She had once looked back to her fight against Herb. When she had thought about it, she realized that she had enjoyed the fight and found herself wanting to challenge the Musk Prince once more simply for the sake of a fight. She dodged the staff a few more times and landed behind Belinda, ready to knock her out with the help of a few pressure points. She was caught by surprise when she realized that Belinda was now facing her and was bringing down the staff towards her head. Not having enough time to dodge, she raised her arms and crossed them at the bracers just as the metal tip of the staff struck her bracers.

She ground her teeth as she struggled against the force of the blow, her feet sinking into the ground at the power behind the attack. She forcefully pushed the staff away from her and jumped back before the follow-up attack hit her. Her eyes widened when the heard a click, the sudden thought of a gun being used in the fight frightening her more than just a bit.

She stopped to stare when she saw Belinda draw two katana from her bo staff, the metallic ends being the hilt of the weapon. She then watched, fascinated, as she turned the weapons around the connected the hilt to the ends of the staff, twisting them as they locked into place with a click, not unlike when she had pulled them out of the staff.

Ranma-chan instinctively backed away as she twirled the weapon in her hands and held it in her hands. With the addition of two blades, one at each end, the range of the weapon, and the deadliness, increased significantly as Belinda looked up to smirk at Ranma-chan. "I've never met an opponent who forced me to use this in a fight. You've proved to me that you're certainly worth it. Don't disappoint me."

With her trademark smirk on her face, one that infuriated many of his opponents, she said, "Haven't you heard? Ranma Saotome doesn't lose. Especially not when it counts."

_END CHAPTER 2_

**Well, another chapter done, means one chapter less towards the end of this fic. I'm not 100 percent sure how many chapters this will have so just keep reading and I'll keep writing and updating. **

**Also, I'm still deciding whether or not I should involve some romance in this story so don't expect it unless you guys specifically ask for it. **

**Once again, please click on the 'GO' button at the bottom of the page and leave a review telling me what you think of the story. Thank you. Until next time, please keep reading and reviewing. :D**


	4. Arc 1 Chapter 3

Terms of Engagement

By Overlord of Order and Overlord of Chaos

**SUMMARY: ****Many things have happened over the course of Ranma's life. But he soon learns that things were not as they first appeared, a lesson he has learned time and again. When he learns of the truth behind many events in his life, will he be up to the challenge?**

**Once again, I must say this. Wow, so many reviews. O.O**

**First of all, I'd like to say that I managed to get my brother to help with this fic, help that I need very much. As in our profile, he is the one who knows how to cause trouble while I'm usually the one who ends up fixing them. This is when it comes to stories of any kind of course. I'm usually the one causing trouble in RL. Anyway, the basis for this story was his and I didn't feel quite right about writing it when a majority of the idea was his so I… persuaded him to help. :D**

**Anyway, I think it's time I replied to some of the reviews other than thanking you guys. **

_**well (Anonymous reviewer)**_: **First of all, I didn't make Ranma weak as you say. But even after beating a self-proclaimed god, he's still human. I don't know about you, but reading a fic where Ranma is made out to be the strongest person alive or something like that really turns me off. What's so exciting about reading a fic where Ranma is so powerful that he can handle anything? What's the point in that? And besides, there's a reason why he's at that level right now.**

_**Tahari: **_**You told me that some statements in those paragraphs don't make sense to you. I'm not really sure which part since you didn't point out which statements didn't make sense. It makes sense to me since I wrote it but I'd like to see where it didn't make sense for you. That way I can correct it so everybody can understand it better. Just send me a message or something. Thanks**

_**Requiem (Anonymous reviewer from the previous chapter):**_** 1) I made them at Ranma's skill level for a reason that you'll just have to wait for. 2) That one's explained in the next chapter during the fight with Belinda. 3) That's exactly why they're there, to cause problems, upon my brother's suggestion. This will be explained further in this chapter. 4) As you said, America was mentioned. But it won't be playing a major part. America is simply where Katsumi lived before traveling. That's all. And I don't really think its taboo since there are fics where they travel to America or something like that.**

_**Ghost in the Machine:**_** You said, **"You have to fight this person and your life is at stake, but don't worry, you're not allowed to fight using anything close to your actual capability." **That's putting it a bit too harshly don't you think? For one thing, the fight isn't for his life. Another, he can fight full out only thing is, his arsenal is limited. He doesn't necessarily have to use chi based attacks to fight his best seeing as he only has two of them. Fighting his best without chi-based attacks is different from fighting his best with them. But in the end, he's still fighting his best. :D**

**I'm not trying to be mean or anything. Just trying to explain things without spoiling anything. So if you have any unanswered questions you'll just have to wait for it. By the way, to those who guessed that Ranma's the prize… You'll just have to wait. I'm not telling ahead of time if your assumptions are right so there. **

**Anyway, that's all the reviews I'll be replying to like that. To all the others, a great big Thank You for reviewing and letting me know that you like the story. It gives me more motivation to update faster so as not to disappoint you all. And now, onto the next chapter.**

_Previously:_

Ranma-chan instinctively backed away as she twirled the weapon in her hands and held it in her hands. With the addition of two blades, one at each end, the range of the weapon, and the deadliness, increased significantly as Belinda looked up to smirk at Ranma-chan. "I've never met an opponent who forced me to use this in a fight. You've proved to me that you're certainly worth it. Don't disappoint me."

With his trademark smirk on her face, one that infuriated many of his opponents, she said, "Haven't you heard? Ranma Saotome doesn't lose. Especially not when it counts."

_Arc 1: Mysteries_

_Chapter 3: Explanations Part 1_

Belinda smirked in return at that, her adrenaline levels rising to the challenge as she prepared herself. "No, I haven't. Now that you said it however, I'd like to see what you can do against this." Smirking at each other, both combatants then rushed towards each other, both ready to strike at a moment's notice.

At the sidelines, everyone was watching in awe at the display of skill before them, save for two people. Katsumi and Bianca were in awe for the reason that Ranma-chan had managed not only to last this long, but also because she had managed to hit Belinda not once, but numerous times. Both girls knew that Belinda was quite strong and extremely agile at the same time, even when wielding a weapon as heavy as her personalized staff.

In Belinda's own words, she also wielded the weapon not as an extension of her body, but as though it were a part of her, a third arm or leg that she could control just as easily as any other arm or leg. Added to the fact that she was just as competent when fighting unarmed made her the most dangerous of the three. And this one guy… girl, was fighting her on even terms. And because of Happosai's restrictions, Ranma-chan couldn't use her chi to attack directly.

The three of them could use chi that much was certain. But from what they could gather, Ranma-chan could use it as a weapon and not only as a way to heal herself or to augment her abilities. This served to relieve them both that they wouldn't have to worry about that part of his arsenal when they fight him. Of course, this caused Bianca to become depressed as she remembered that she would have to redo everything all over again just to get back to where she was.

Akane, Nabiki and Soun were more or less wide-eyed and slack jawed at what they were watching. Not even the withstanding rivalry between Ranma and Ryoga was this intense. Only Nabiki really understood why this was so. Ryoga was incredibly strong and tough, stronger and tougher than Ranma, but he was also slower than Ranma. Belinda on the other hand was an amazing combination of both, equally matching Ranma-chan's speed and almost as strong as Ranma.

She had noticed the latter when Ranma-chan blocked the overhead strike with both arms when she had blocked the same with only one arm in her male form earlier on. The results were the same however as there were now four deep footprints in the ground. One pair was barely an inch deep while the other pair was much deeper.

Akane, although awed at seeing Ranma fighting this hard for the first time, was also excited and smug. She was excited at the prospect of another person being able to fight against Ranma for so long, especially the fact that the fighter was female. She was smug, simply because even though Ranma had no qualms against fighting girls he still refused to train her for the reason that she didn't have enough discipline. As usual she took it as an insult and believed that he said that simply because she was a girl.

Now, if Ranma-chan were to lose to Belinda then she would be able to confront him about it. 'That'll show him that girls can fight too. And when he trains me I'll show him why I'm the best in Nerima.'

Beside her, Soun was simply… Soun. All he did was stand there and stare. To Akane's right, Nabiki heard her muttering what Akane thought she was only thinking. 'Akane,' she thought without looking, a look of concern and a hint of slight embarrassment on her face as her right eye twitched. 'You and Tatewaki really do belong together… in a psychiatric hospital. Along with Kodachi.'

Genma and Happosai, however, were the only ones who weren't surprised at the level of skill the two fighters displayed. They watched as Ranma easily avoided the sharp blades that easily cut through the ground whenever they missed or were redirected towards the ground. Belinda also managed to avoid receiving any more damage as Ranma's punches and kicks were blocked by the weapon or were redirected by Belinda herself.

And despite the length of her weapon, which was now nearly twice as long as she was tall, she wielded it seemingly easily. They had no doubts that it was quite difficult to use, but she made it seem like the easiest weapon to wield. Whether holding it at the center, or closer to one end; whether using it like a long, double-bladed staff or a double-ended pole arm, it was clear to all those watching that she was a master of her own weapon.

As the fight dragged on, they noticed that the grins on their faces were growing wider. "You did a fine job Genma," Happosai commented in a low voice that only Genma heard. "The boy is far more skilled than I had anticipated. And now that he has an opponent who can match him move for move we can see his full power."

Genma shook his head ever so slightly, moving his head enough for only Happosai to notice. "All I did was follow your instructions. Nothing more."

"True," deadpanned Happosai as he continued to watch the fight with a critical eye.

Beside them, Katsumi and Bianca were having their own discussion regarding the fight at hand. "Hey, did you know that about her staff?"

"No, I didn't," Replied Katsumi. "I know she's better than both of us but I didn't think she was this good. I mean look at her, I can just barely keep up with her. And that weapon."

"Yeah, it was already six feet long and now with a katana at each end it's almost twice as long. Not only that, but that thing must be heavy with all that metal. And she's using it like it weighs nothing at all!"

"I know. I didn't realize she was this strong."

They turned their attention back to the fight where they saw both fighters standing a distance from each other, breathing somewhat heavily as sweat poured down their body. Ranma-chan's back was to them so they couldn't see the smirk on his face while the smirk on Belinda's face was quite obvious.

"Unbelievable," commented Belinda after regaining her breath. "I can't believe I'm about to do this. But if that's what it takes, then I might as well."

Everyone watched as Belinda stuck one end of the weapon into the ground. They were surprised when she then proceeded to take off her shirt. Before anyone could say anything they saw what she was wearing underneath. "A… A weight vest?" Ranma-chan breathed out. "You've been wearing that the whole time then?"

"That's right," replied Belinda as she unbuttoned the vest and took it off, revealing a white undershirt as she put on the black shirt once more. "I never thought I'd meet an opponent like you. Not only have you managed to get me to reveal my true weapon, but you also forced me to take off my vest. You're quite an opponent, Ranma."

Still holding the vest in her hands, Belinda threw it upwards, landing right in front of Ranma-chan with a loud crash and creating a small crater. Nobody but Belinda saw it, a large smirk that appeared on Ranma-chan's face almost as soon as the vest crashed to the ground. "Well, let's even the odds then shall we?"

Ranma-chan dropped from the stance and began to unbutton her own shirt. As soon as she pulled it off, everyone saw that she too was wearing a weight vest. She unbuttoned that as well, showing off her ample bosom which was wrapped with tightly with bandages. She tossed her vest upwards as well, causing it to drop right beside Belinda's vest where it created a similar crater before she put her shirt back on. But before anything else she proceeded to take off her bracers as well. She picked up the two vests with seemingly no difficulty before she threw all four items over her shoulder where they landed in front of the spectators.

"Don't think you're the only one who weights on. Now let's get back to the fight."

Belinda picked up her weapon once more and charged at Ranma-chan, moving faster than ever as she was no longer weighed down by the vest. Ranma-chan charged as well, easily surpassing Belinda's speed by a slight margin. To everyone else the two fighters were barely visible, only catching a glint of light that reflected off Belinda's weapon and a flash of red that was Ranma-chan's shirt or hair.

They all let out a small gasp when they saw Belinda's weapon go flying up into the air as both fighters reappeared, Ranma-chan's foot high up in the air after kicking the weapon out of Belinda's hands. They only reappeared for a split-second before they blurred once more, both fighters now fighting with their fists and feet before Belinda got a kick in that knocked Ranma-chan back. Jumping into the air the raven-haired fighter retrieved her weapon and landed just as Ranma-chan came in with a powerful kick to her side that sent her flying.

She recovered easily but one hand quickly flew to where she was hit to check the damage. 'Damn it,' she thought. 'I really underestimated him… her… whatever. But… I can't back out now, not after coming this far. She's still not that strong, but she's much stronger than she was before taking off the weights. And she's also much faster, faster than me.'

'But, this isn't the time to be thinking of such things. I'll beat her and finally be able to return home.' With renewed determination, she charged Ranma-chan again, slashing and stabbing with her weapon as well as blocking and return attacks. 'The advantage of a blade, is that you cannot block it with your bare fists or feet. You'll have to stop it some other way.'

Almost as though Ranma-chan was reading her thoughts, she caught the blade on its descent, holding it in place with a palm to each side of the blade. "Very good," she said, a look on her face that clearly said that she had something up her sleeve. "But, can you stop two at the same time?"

There was another click as she twisted the handle at the center, where Ranma-chan remembered was another part made of metal. She watched as Belinda pulled the weapon apart, revealing a thick length of elastic cord. Ranma-chan jumped away just as Belinda slashed through where she was seconds ago, the blade slicing through the afterimage of the red-haired girl.

"Exactly how many surprises does that thing have?" Asked Ranma-chan, getting annoyed at the weapon in Belinda's hands. "I'm actually considering breaking it into a million pieces"

"Don't worry, this is the last part of it," said Belinda, reconnecting the weapon and twirling it in her hands. "But I doubt you'll be able to last long now that I'm using it." She held the weapon with both hands, holding it close to where the blade connects with the staff and slashed in Ranma-chan's direction.

Ranma-chan yelped in surprise and jumped away as she watched the cord extend, causing the other half of the weapon to fly towards her and cut through where her head was earlier. She landed close to Belinda but just as she was about to attack her, Belinda attacked her with the other half of the weapon and a split second later the other half returned and reconnected with the other.

She resumed her attack as Ranma-chan jumped back and went on to the defensive. Seeing an opening Ranma-chan jumped forward and threw a punch but was blocked quickly by Belinda. To those watching, every punch and kick from Ranma-chan created a light shockwave that reverberated throughout the lot. Ranma-chan wasn't the only one with such power though.

Every attack Belinda made, whether it be slashing or stabbing, created a powerful gust of wind that cut through the air in the direction of her attack. Stabbing attacks made Ranma-chan feel like she was punched by the wind from a distance while the slashing attacks reminded her of a certain kendo practitioner.

"It's time to finish this." Upon hearing that Ranma-chan immediately back away. Unfortunately for her Belinda anticipated where she would be landing and was right in front of her when she landed. "Take this. Star Thrust!"

"Alright then, let's see what you've got. Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire First Revised!"

As Ranma-chan initiated her counter-attack, Belinda smirked as she saw what the shorter girl was doing. She had pulled her weapon apart and was thrusting both halves of the weapon, stabbing at Ranma-chan while she, Ranma-chan, caught each thrust at the tip of the blade using only three fingers. She was surprised at the display of strength. To be able to stop it at the tip with only three fingers before pushing it back and catching another thrust before it hit her. 'You are truly an amazing fighter. But I cannot let you win.'

She pressed her attack further, the speed of her attack increasing as time passed. Ranma-chan's thoughts were similar but had a tinge of something else. 'Damn, I can't let her win like this. But her defenses are tight and her attacks are just as good. There's only one way to win this fight.' Resigning herself to her fate of defeat, Ranma-chan prepared herself. "Let's end this. Pride of the Fierce Tiger!"

Right after pushing back the blade Ranma-chan quickly gathered as much chi as she could at that moment and shot it towards her opponent. Belinda's eyes widened as she saw the chi blast rushing towards her. The distance between them was barely five feet yet the ball of golden chi seemed to take forever to make it's way to her, almost as though it was taunting her, saying that she wouldn't be able to avoid it. The blast exploded when it made contact with her. Because of their closeness, Ranma-chan was also sent flying back although she was prepared for it. She flipped about in the air, landed on her feet and skidded to a halt before she crashed into Katsumi and Bianca.

Belinda however, wasn't so lucky. She was still shocked by the blast and the unexpected turn of events that she wasn't able to recover before her back collided with a large metal crate, the force of the blast strong enough to cause her body to leave an indention in the metal. The force of the collision knocked her unconscious as she slid down to the ground.

"And the winner," Happoasi began to announce as he walked over to where Belinda was. "Is Belinda."

"Wait."

Happosai turned around to see both Akane and Katsumi standing behind him. "Belinda was knocked unconscious wasn't she?" Katsumi asked.

"Yeah. I hate to admit it but the pervert won didn't he?"

Happosai shook his head for two reasons. The first was because Akane still held onto the belief that Ranma was just as perverted as any boy she had ever met. The second was the only reason he would say out loud. "Yes, she was knocked unconscious. But don't forget the conditions for the fight. Ranma used a chi-based attack before she was knocked out, therefore he lost the fight."

"Really?" Akane asked first, a smug look on her face. "Ha! The pervert finally lost. And to a girl at that. What now Ranma?" She stopped to turn to face Ranma-chan, who had already begun walking over to Belinda's unconscious form. "How do you feel Ranma? You finally lost. And to a girl."

"That's quite enough Akane." This shut her up as it came from someone she didn't really expect it to. "My son may have lost this challenge, but he won the fight. I taught him how to be a winner but winning doesn't necessarily mean beating your opponent regardless of the challenge. Even the loser of a battle can be considered a winner is he learns something from the fight. And I do believe that Ranma learned a lot from this fight."

"Quite true husband. And now that someone has come this far I do believe that we have no reason to keep up this charade."

"W-What are you talking about auntie? What's going on?"

Neither of the two said anything else as Ranma-chan returned, Belinda's still unconscious form in her arms with the weapon, now back in its staff form, in her arms as well. "So uh… what do we do now?" She asked sheepishly. "Do we take her back with us or something?"

Happosai nodded, a pensive look on his face as he turned around to leave. "Take her back to the Tendo Dojo with these two. I'll meet you back there after assembling everyone who needs to be there."

Before Ranma-chan could ask any questions Happosai had already left, leaving everyone behind. Turning to her parents, she watched with a critical eye as Genma took Belinda off her arms and, when he saw the look she was giving him, said, "You'll need to carry the two vests and your bracers."

Ranma-chan nodded and accepted the answer as she bent down to pick up both vests, surprised when she realized that Belinda carried the same amount of weight as she did on hers. Of course, the addition of the bracers made the weight she carried much more than what Belinda was carrying.

They walked back in silence, Genma and Nodoka unwilling to answer any questions until they returned and Happosai there with them. Katsumi and Bianca spoke to each other in English once again, talking about how amazing the fight was.

Up in front Akane complained to Nabiki and Soun about how unfair it was. "I mean, Ranma lost but he still wins. She should have beaten up the pervert much more than she did. I bet the pervert enjoyed it when she took off her shirt."

Ranma-chan, just having come out of one of the most intense fights of her life, was in no mood to argue so she pointedly ignored Akane as she turned and glared at him every now and again. Ranma-chan's face scrunched up as she thought things over. 'Nothing makes sense. Pops is never this serious for so long. Happosai can't stay around girls for a second without groping 'em or stealing their underwear. He also admitted that I'm good enough to be the Grandmaster of Anything goes. What gives?'

By the time they got back to the Tendo Dojo, the sky had turned orange and the sun was barely visible across the horizon. When they entered the house, they were greeted by Kasumi. "Oh, are our guests staying for dinner?"

Without waiting for the two girls to answer Nodoka said, "Yes, they will Kasumi. I'll help prepare dinner while we wait for Happosai."

Everyone moved to the main room where Genma laid Belinda down on a cushion and everyone else went to do whatever it was they wanted to. Ranma-chan went straight towards Genma but before she could get a single word out, he beat her to it. "No Ranma now's not the time. Happosai and I will explain everything once he returns. Until then you have to be patient and wait."

Ranma-chan opened her mouth to argue but was cut off once again. "Happosai went to call on everyone who needs to be here for this. It's time to resolve this once and for all."

The last statement shut Ranma-chan up as she thought about the implications of the statement. 'End what?' She thought curiously. 'The fiancée problem? No, no way. Why would he do anything now when he could have done something earlier? But what else can it be? Damn it pops. What's going on?'

Once again Ranma-chan was submitted to one of the things she hated. Waiting. So to keep herself busy she walked out of the room and into the kitchen. She walked back out in male form, steam rising from his shirt from the water he used to change. Katsumi and Bianca followed him with their eyes as he walked out of the room and stood in front of the koi pond.

He began to run through a kata at low speed, moving at just the right speed for anyone to be able to follow. Slowly he sped up, and gradually increased his speed until he was nothing more than a blur. Katsumi and Bianca easily followed his movements, as he wasn't moving as fast as he was during the fight. Moments later Belinda woke up and began to watch Ranma as well.

Finally, after waiting for what felt like hours, Ranma finally felt the familiar chi signature of Happosai. And together with him were Cologne, Shampoo, Mousse and Ukyo. 'What are they doing here?'

They entered the main room a few seconds later, led by Happosai and sat down upon his words. Ranma didn't need to be told as he stopped in mid-kick. He walked back into the house, covered by a light coating of sweat as he sat down as well, glancing to the side to where Belinda sat to make sure she was all right. "Hey Ran-chan," Ukyo greeted when she saw him enter. "What's going on?"

Before he could answer he felt someone grab onto him and pulled him into a tight hug. "Aiyah! Shampoo too too happy to see Airen. Airen take Shampoo out on date yes?"

"Get off my Ran-chan you hussy!"

"Spatula girl leave airen alone!"

"Stop playing around with your hussies you pervert!"

Each of the three members of the fiancée brigade drew their respective weapons. Two of them prepared to fight one another while the last one was aiming for Ranma. Before the usual business could begin, a loud voice permeated the air. "THAT IS QUITE ENOUGH GIRLS!" Everyone turned to the entryway to the kitchen where they saw Nodoka Saotome who stood, surrounded by an unseen aura of power. "Please sit down girls. I don't want to hear any complaints."

None of them argued with the auburn haired woman, not even Akane, as they took a seat around the table. "Good. Now that everyone is here I can explain everything," began Happosai. "Before I explain who there three young women are, I think I should first explain something else. You see, when I first started the school of Anything Goes, it was my dream to make it the most well known martial arts school there is. Unfortunately, by the time I became good enough to take on the world masters in order to prove this true, I had made already a reputation for myself, a reputation that the other masters knew of and despised. Therefore, they refused to truly acknowledge me as a martial arts master. So then I took on two students, two people who I found had the most potential at that time."

"Unfortunately for me, only one of them truly lived up to his potential. But it was still not enough to challenge some of the world masters. Therefore, I separated the schools under two names and gave them both a task. I had asked them to train a successor to the school, regardless of whether it was their child or not, so that they would carry on the legacy of the school and make the Anything Goes known as the strongest martial arts school. Both of them took heed of my words and had chosen to train their children, though one of them took on other students to teach. I'm sure you can tell by now who is who."

"Unfortunately one of them lost sight of the true goal I had sent him out to do before it was complete. Therefore, I turned my attention to my other student, who had raised his heir to be an outstanding fighter at such a young age. However, we needed to make sure that the heir was truly powerful." Happosai stopped for a moment to make sure everyone was listening before he continued. "So I set out on a journey to visit all the world masters and searching for powerful young fighters and gave them each a goal. I had asked the masters for a favor and, seeing that I was no longer the same person they knew, gave me a chance and accepted. I gave them all instructions to test the fighters I would send their way and send them to the next master until they would finally be send to me for their last two tests."

"These three behind me," he said while he held out a hand towards the respective person, "From your left to your right, are Katsumi Nishimoto, Bianca Grant and Belinda Morgan. These three are the first of many whose family accepted the challenge I had given them. I gave them all a contract pertaining to the challenge and we had signed the contract in front of an official witness who put his or her signature as well."

"As entertaining as this story is Happosai," Cologne, who grew impatient at having been called to an important meeting that didn't seem to have anything to do with her or the Amazons in general, interjected. "I fail to see what this has to do with us."

"You'll understand in a moment," he replied with an unseen smirk. "Now where was I? Oh yes. Each family I visited had a different school of martial arts that was unique. I explained to them my dream that I had passed on and I gave them the challenge should they show similar aspirations. I had also offered a proper prize for them. One they would receive upon completing the challenge and can be shared to as many people as they want. Belinda here completed the challenge and managed to defeat Ranma under the conditions I gave."

A wave of shock to passed through Cologne, Mousse, Shampoo and Ukyo when they heard this. They turned to the raven-haired girl who simply met their gaze with a firm look. "What conditions?" They asked almost at the same time.

"For her to achieve victory she must force Ranma to use any chi-based attack and for Ranma to achieve victory he must simply defeat her. Ranma won the fight but had to use a chi blast in order to defeat her. That alone is a testament to her skills. He won the fight, but lost the challenge."

"Regarding that," Belinda began, speaking for the first time since she regained consciousness. "What is this prize? All that my father told me was that it is one of the most sought out objects in the martial arts world. I want to know what I spent two years traveling around the globe for."

As though he was ignoring her, Happosai continued his tale. "Ranma, on his training trip, traveled as well to those masters in order to learn everything he could from them. I had visited the masters about this challenge after they met with the masters to ensure that the challengers wouldn't meet up with Ranma. With his exceptional learning ability, he could learn all they had to teach in a few short months. I think now would be the best time to say that they had given him a certification that identifies him a master of their respective art. Of course, I asked them not to give it directly to him seeing as he needed a few more years to learn some discipline."

Happosai turned to Ranma and said, "Ranma, I'm not sure what your thoughts on this are but rest assured, neither I nor Genma had any intention of keeping this from you. We had planned to give it to you when you turned 18 so that you can begin teaching but with the arrival of these three we had to reveal it now. I hope you understand."

Surprisingly, Ranma replied. "I understand. I probably would have been much worse when I got here if I knew I was a master of several arts. I mean, I was bad enough just thinking I was the best. What if I knew I was considered a master?" There was no hint of distrust or doubt in his tone, only sincerity. Something that Happosai was glad about.

"Thank you for being understanding." He then turned to Belinda, who he had ignored up until now, then said, "Now, the prize you will receive is something only for your ears until the other two complete the challenge as well."

He gestured for her to follow him and they walked into his room, which, for once, wasn't full of women's lingerie. "The prize comes in two parts actually. One is a chance to learn some of the world's strongest forms of martial arts and earn the certification to teach it as well. Of course, as someone who enjoys both the art and fighting I'm sure you understand the value of this as not all masters, especially masters of their own personal style, are quite willing to part with their knowledge for the simple reason that you want to learn."

"And the other part?"

"Your father didn't tell you?" She shook her head. "I see. I suppose he wanted you to decide on your own whether or not you'll take it. Anyway, the other part is optional of course and you don't have to take it as it is more of a task than a prize."

"And what is this task?" She immediately regretted the question as Happosai relayed to her his final task. Then again, the grin on her face belied this feeling of regret. "Perhaps I'll take on this challenge. As you said, someone who enjoys both the art and fighting will certainly understand that. And to tell you the truth, I was having similar thoughts. I might as well take it as a challenge then."

"At first," she admitted, "I thought that you were joking when you restricted him from using chi-based attack, seeing as I have yet to see someone use chi to attack instead of to augment his or her physique. I thought it was a ruse to frighten me, make me think that I had such an advanced opponent that I would fear what he could do."

"Now I see that there was no ruse and I regret having thought so little of it," she said, shaking her head slowly. "And now I see that I still have quite a ways to go before I can truly be the best. Truly, Ranma Saotome does not lose when it counts. He failed the challenge because of the conditions but he won the fight, just as he said."

"Good, good." Happosai stood up and nodded. "Now, let's rejoin the others and announce the news."

Both of them returned to find that everyone had been waiting for them quietly. Apparently the mere fact that someone could fight Ranma and forced him to use a chi blast, where using it would result in his defeat, was enough to shake them. Just knowing that she was as good as Ranma in terms of skill was simply too much to take in at once. "Well, Belinda here has agreed to take the prize as well as take on another task I have for her."

"What task would that be?"

"A task that many have tried to take on and have failed to do so. A task that many people have failed to accomplish."

"I'll repeat my question Happosai. What task would that be?" She asked and her eyes narrowed as she thought of several tasks that all many have failed to do in regards to martial arts. 'What task would it be?' She asked herself. 'Learning how to manipulate chi like son-in-law and Ryoga perhaps? No, that wouldn't be it. Those two are significantly more advanced that others. Ranma has been beaten in the past but he always returns in order to regain his pride. So that leaves…'

Her eyes widened when she realized what the task would be and was about to voice out her opinion when Happosai announced the task. "Her new task to complete is to do what it was that many have failed to do. A task that some have come directly to this dojo to complete without completing the previous task. Her task, is to tame the Wild Horse of Nerima."

_END CHAPTER 3_

**Well, how's that? Was it expected or unexpected? Well, we, my brother and I, still have a few surprises in store for you guys so don't assume too many things just yet.**

**Once again, please click on the 'GO' button at the bottom of the page and leave a review telling me what you think of the story and any suggestions, comments and/or complaints. Thank you. Until next time, please keep reading and reviewing. :D**


	5. Arc 1 Chapter 4

Terms of Engagement

By Overlord of Order and Overlord of Chaos

**SUMMARY: ****Many things have happened over the course of Ranma's life. But he soon learns that things were not as they first appeared, a lesson he has learned time and again. When he learns of the truth behind many events in his life, will he be up to the challenge?**

**And once again, I'm still in awe at the number of reviews I'm getting. Not that I don't appreciate them, just that I still keep expecting only a handful instead of the sudden flood to my e-mail account. Anyway, here are a few more replies to some of the reviews.**

_**Ghost in the Machine: **_**Actually, I don't really understand what you were saying about the weight vest not being there when he was male so you'll have to clarify that a bit more. Just the same, I'll take a shot in the dark to try to explain from the way I understand what you said. Ranma's shirt, as I've noticed, appears to be somewhat loose fitting more often than not **_**while**_** in his male form. Therefore, if he were to wear something underneath it wouldn't be too obvious. If that's not what you meant then you'll have to clarify it. :D**

_**Musichowler:**_** Don't worry about it so much. I planned this story for a few months before writing a single word. There's a reason when I had Ranma speak like that. Actually, a lot more questions will be answered in this chapter compared to the last one. In my opinion at least.**

_**Requiem:**_** Well, thanks for the reply as well. But since I really can't stand not having the last say in things, I'll say this just for the sake of it. It's my fic, an anime based fic at that. If I wanted the sun to be non-existent in this fic then it will be. Of course that would be stupid but I'm sure you get the point. Still, thanks for pointing that out. And you're welcome, of course.**

**And to everyone who reviewed, a great big thank you for your feedback. It's good to hear what you think of the fic so far. Oh, and **_**Ozzallos**_**, I don't think you'll be disappointed by the way. I'm about to make your hopes come true. ;-)**

_Previously:_

"I'll repeat my question Happosai. What task would that be?" She asked and her eyes narrowed as she thought of several tasks that all many have failed to do in regards to martial arts. 'What task would it be?' She asked herself. 'Learning how to manipulate chi like son-in-law and Ryoga perhaps? No, that wouldn't be it. Those two are significantly more advanced that others. Ranma has been beaten in the past but he always returns in order to regain his pride. So that leaves…'

Her eyes widened when she realized what the task would be and was about to voice out her opinion when Happosai announced the task. "Her new task to complete is to do what it was that many have failed to do. A task that some have come directly to this dojo to complete without completing the previous task. Her task, is to tame the Wild Horse of Nerima."

_Arc 1: Mysteries_

_Chapter 4: Explanations Part 2_

There was a stunned silence as a majority of the people present tried to digest what Happosai had just told them. "Say what?" Ranma asked with a dumb look on his face. "Did you just say what I thought you said?"

"What? Are you deaf?" Happosai asked as he took a puff of his pipe, still leaning casually against the wall. "You heard what I said."

Coming out of his shocked state, Ranma growled lightly before he disappeared and reappeared holding Happosai up by the cuff of his gi. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YA PLAYING AT OLD MAN?" He suddenly yelled out, causing everyone to jump, some only slightly, while some quickly ran up to try to pull him off. "FIRST POPS AND NOW YOU! THERE AIN'T NO WAY I'M GETTING ENGAGED AGAIN! MY LIFE'S BAD ENOUGH AS IT IS WITHOUT YA ENGAGING ME TO SOMEONE ELSE!"

Two of the three newcomers tried to pull Ranma off but failed due to their lack of strength. The interruption came from someone they had expected slightly. But the words that came out of his mouth were certainly unexpected. "Ranma! Put the master down. If you'll let us explain then you'll see that this is all a misunderstanding."

Genma's voice was calm yet firm, full of authority that Ranma was used to hearing. Ranma stopped moving for a while as he slowly turned to face the man he called his father. "A misunderstanding?" He asked slowly, stressing each syllable to get his meaning across. "How the hell can all this be a misunderstanding pops? You engage me to practically every girl out there and now the old letch is doing it too. HOW THE HELL CAN ALL THIS BE A MISUNDERSTANDING?"

"Your father is right Ranma." Everyone's head quickly turned to face Belinda, who had spoken in a relaxed and slightly amused tone. One her face was a look of amusement as well as some confusion at some of the comments about him being engaged to multiple girls. "If you put him down and let him explain then you'll see that this is simply a misunderstanding. Mostly on your part but a misunderstanding just the same."

Ranma didn't know what to do. He wanted to simply put Happosai down and listen just as Belinda had asked him to. But Belinda was new to Nerima and thus wasn't aware of the everyday on-goings that surrounded him. He wanted so much to vent out his frustrations regarding his fiancée problem then again he wanted to trust Belinda. He had fought her earlier after all. As strange as it may sound to most people, fighting had become his way of getting to know someone. Through his fights, he began to understand a person's personality.

Belinda's fighting style was swift, powerful, and straightforward, similar to what Ranma had seen earlier when he had been leading them to the dojo. His father's fighting style, while similar, was also deceptive from time to time. Others may not understand, nor would they believe such a method to be accurate, but Ranma certainly trusted this method.

Before he could come to a decision however, someone decided to step in. Everyone jumped away at the blazing red aura that surrounded the youngest Tendo daughter as she stomped forward, marching menacingly towards the pigtailed young man who was slowly releasing Happosai, though unaware of his fiancée approaching him from behind.

"Ranma," she slowly growled out as she reached behind her back. "THIS. IS. ALL. YOUR. FAULT!" In one swift motion she had pulled out her trusty mallet and swung hard at Ranma with an overhead strike. Ranma was caught completely unaware as he was forced through the wooden floorboards and was knocked out by the force of the blow.

No sooner had Akane hit Ranma did everyone hear a familiar click followed by the sound of a swords being drawn. Two seconds later Akane found the edge of a blade resting in front of her throat. "That will be quite enough out of you Akane," Nodoka growled out as she kept her katana in place, the blade mere millimeters away from cutting into the girl's neck.

Nodoka saw Akane open her mouth and knew what she was about to say. 'Well, not anymore,' she thought. "Don't," she began forcefully and stopped Akane before she even began to speak. "Say a word. I've restrained myself long enough Akane. Now that this happened, there is no reason for me not to do anything on my son's behalf. For the past two years, you have continuously abused my son's caring nature, taking advantage of the fact that he would not hit you simply because you are a girl."

That last statement caught the attention of the three female newcomers. They turned to face the knocked out martial artist, on the floor with disapproval but the next statement made them rethink their opinion. "I broke him of that habit and he still refused to hit you back. I asked him why and he told me this. He let you hit him because it was the only way to end the argument without any irreparable consequences. You are a martial artist Akane, you are supposed to protect people and not hurt them."

"B-But, I am," she replied shakily, warily eyeing the blade. Even swallowing needlessly could cause her throat to receive a small cut. "I'm protecting them from that pervert. It's his fault."

"No Akane, it isn't his fault," Nodoka replied sternly, making a slight motion with the hand holding the katana. That got the desired result as Akane's eyes showed a bit more fear in them. "Just so you know I've known about everything that happened around this house since Ranma began to stay here. Genma has told me every single detail of what happened everyday. Let us take the incidents in the furo for the past two years for example."

At this a look of smugness appeared on Akane's face. But that soon changed as Nodoka counted off the incidents. "There were seventy-five incidents where you walk in on my son. This was mainly because you didn't bother to check if the occupied sign was up. Eighty-three incidents where Ranma walked in because you failed to answer when he asked if someone was inside _even_ after seeing that the occupied sign was not put up, mainly due to Nabiki's interference. One-hundred three incidents where you, yourself, failed to put up the occupied sign."

With each incident that was mentioned Akane's face grew red, whether it was from anger or embarrassment was unknown. The three newcomers were shocked upon hearing this and their opinion of the young girl plummeted.

"And last, but most certainly not the least," continued Nodoka, "Sixty-four incidents where he rushed in after he heard you scream for one reason or another. Everyonein the house thought that something bad had happened to you whenever you screamed yet you accuse him of attempting to do something dishonorable. All those times, you blamed him for trying to peep on you, for seeing you in a towel, or because you saw him naked and blamed him because you couldn't admit that you were wrong."

"But he's a pervert!" she yelled out as though it justified everything.

Ignoring Akane's outburst, Nodoka continued. "I should probably kill you in return for attacking my son for events that were out of his control. Events, might I add, his rivals and other fiancées caused. You would hit my son when Shampoo, Ukyo, or both of them would show him affection. If you want to show your displeasure then perhaps your should direct that to the cause and not a victim."

"How can that pervert be a victim?" She asked as she turned to face the other two fiancées. "If he would just pick someone then this would all be over."

"So you care nothing about his honor then?"

"He's engaged to me so he's honor bound to marry me."

"But what of his engagement to Ms. Kuonji? Genma and her father signed a legal contract and having Ambassador status, Elder Cologne's tribe's laws apply regarding to the kiss of marriage. He is also honor bound to fulfill his end of the deal in terms of Ms. Kuonji's contract and bound by law to marry Elder Cologne's great granddaughter. Moreover, what of the other girls who are engaged to Ranma? Ranma is still honor bound to marry them."

"Why should I care? It's not my problem if that idiot's father engaged him to so many other girls."

"So you are saying that if Ranma loses his honor by failing to marry the other girls then it is my husband's fault?"

"Of course it is. He shouldn't have been so greedy then. He should have just engaged him to me and only me. That way Ranma would be mine."

"Ranma, there's no need to pretend that you're asleep," Genma said to his son casually.

Ranma didn't bother asking how he knew as he had more important matters to think about as he pulled himself out of the hole in the floor and brushed himself off. Barely anyone noticed this as their attention was focused solely on Nodoka and Akane.

"Well Akane, I suppose you are right about that," she conceded, lowering her sword. "If my husband had not engaged Ranma to so many girls then it would be his fault." The victorious smile on Akane's face barely lasted a second as Nodoka continued to speak. "However, what was it made you think that Ranma was engaged to you in the first place?"

This seemed to catch that attention of everyone who had no idea what Nodoka was talking about. Genma then pulled out a folded piece of paper and handed it to Nodoka who held it open in front of Akane. It was the Tendo-Saotome agreement that promised to unite the two schools. Once she was sure that Akane knew what it was, she set it down on the table for everyone to see.

"This, as you can see, is the promise signed by Genma and Soun years ago with Asami and I as witnesses. If you read it properly you would see that you were never engaged to Ranma."

Looking to where Nodoka was pointing Akane read aloud the paragraph for everyone else to hear.

"_The following are the conditions both children must complete before they are to be engaged and recognized as a worthy heir to the Saotome or Tendo school of Anything Goes Martial Arts. _

_1) Both children must have the knowledge of at least ten different schools of martial arts that are recognized worldwide._

_2) The Master of their respective school or the Grandmaster of the school must acknowledge the heir as a Master of their respective school._

_3) Both heirs must express their consent to being engaged to each other._

_If either one of the heirs fail to uphold any of these three conditions then there shall be no engagement and no wedding shall take place to unite both schools as one. Should both heirs wish to be wed but fail to uphold one of the other conditions then the union of schools will not take place even in the event that both heirs are wed."_

That was the last part of the contract and below that were the signatures of Genma and Nodoka Saotome as well as those of Soun and Asami Tendo. "Ha," Akane barked out suddenly. "What's the point of this? I'm a master of the Tendo school. I'm the best martial artist in Nerima."

"No Akane, you are no master," Happosai admonished calmly but with a harsh undertone. "A true master of the art is a master of his or her emotions. You are controlled by your emotions when it should be the other way around. Even if I did acknowledge you as a master of Tendo school, you still lack the knowledge of ten other schools. All I see when you fight is the basic knowledge of Anything Goes, nothing else."

"But you said the Anything Goes incorporated the teachings of other schools."

"Yes, but the Anything Goes doesn't teach any other art asides from its own. Anything Goes Martial Arts does not have properties of other arts but is fluid enough to allow the practitioner to incorporate other styles he or she has learned into the Anything Goes style. It is up to the practitioners to learn those other arts on their own by traveling the world for both knowledge and experience."

"Therefore Akane, your engagement to my son is null and void seeing as you fail to uphold your end of the agreement." Then, as though foreseeing what would happen next, Genma turned away from Akane to face their other guests. "Ukyo, the terms for your engagement are similar. I don't know whether or not your father told you but you were required to learn from ten different schools asides from your own and Ranma must agree to the engagement."

"What the hell are you talking about you jackass? I'm already engaged to my Ran-chan. My father said so himself. He even showed me the engagement contract that he signed."

"Well then, what do you call this?" Genma pulled out another folded piece of paper and handed it to Ukyo. Unfolding it she saw the terms of the contract just as Genma had stated and at the bottom was both the Saotome and Kuonji family seals along with Genma and her father's signatures affixed at very bottom with four other people as witnesses. "This contract has four witnesses as well as your family seal while the one you hold only has your father's signature and family seal. There is no doubt in my mind that he did not read the contract fully and upon discovering the terms, he decided to forge a contract. Unfortunately he couldn't forge the Saotome family seal."

"Then it would seem that son-in-law will have no problems marrying Shampoo seeing as he has no other obligations."

"Wrong again Cologne." This time it was Happosai who pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to Cologne. "As soon as I realized that you were here, I decided to intervene and confronted Shampoo. I told her that I could guarantee that Ranma would be engaged to her and only her. All she had to do was sign that contract and swear upon all that she holds dear that she would not deny signing that very contract and that she would fulfill the contract before marrying Ranma. Should she somehow force or coerce Ranma into marrying her then she would be punished in any way I see fit. You can ask her to verify it if you wish."

"Is this true Shampoo?"

"Is true," Shampoo replied in her usual bubbly voice. "Now Shampoo and Airen get married and make too too powerful children."

"YOU FOOL!" For the first time since their arrival, the people in the room were treated to the rare sight of Cologne bopping Shampoo on the back of the head with her staff. In fact, bopping was too soft a term as Shampoo's head was launched forward, nearly slamming down onto the table. "Have I not taught you to read a contract before signing it? Do you not realize that by signing this you must now learn ten other martial art styles asides from what you learned at the village and attain master level in each one before you can marry son-in-law. Add to that the fact that you must defeat Ranma in combat with a weapon that Ranma himself would choose."

"What does that mean?"

Cologne slapped her face with one hand before switching to Chinese and repeating everything for Shampoo to understand better. The two were engaged in a heated, yet one-sided, argument that ended when Shampoo's eyes grew wet as she left, jumping over the wall and returning to the Nekohanten upon Cologne's instructions. Turning to face a grinning Happosai with a death glare she said, "This is not over just yet Happi. We'll be back before you know it."

With that Cologne left the Tendo compound, leaving only the male Amazon as he casually stood and turned to Ranma. "Well, this is where we part ways for now Ranma. I really enjoyed our fights. I'm hope that you would forgive me for all my crimes against you." Mousse bowed at the waist in Ranma's direction before he straightened up and turned around. "I'll see you around." With one last wave, Mousse leapt over the compound wall to follow after Cologne.

His statements confused Ranma greatly as all he could do was nod in return as he tried to contemplate what it was that made Mousse suddenly change like that. And as though reading his mind, Happosai answered Ranma's unasked question. "I made him a deal just about the same time I got Shampoo to sign that contract. I told him that I would pay for his operation to get his eyesight fixed if he continued to fight you in order to keep you on your toes until the time that I could get Shampoo away from you. That way he could get a fair chance while they travel for Shampoo to attain mastery of ten different schools of martial arts."

"And," Genma began. "All the others I had engaged you to were not my idea. Did you really think I would sell out my own son like that? That was the cost of asking for food and shelter that we needed on our travels. I gave them all the same condition I gave to Natsume Kuonji, Ukyo's father. Those that came here directly were those that were either ignorant of the conditions or thought that they could pretend that they mastered other arts already."

"W-Wait," Ranma interrupted. "A-Are you saying that I'm engaged to anyone at all?"

"That's right Ranma," Genma replied as he knelt down in front of Ranma and bowed down low. "Forgive me for keeping this from you Ranma. I won't bother to explain my actions. All I will say is that I had always taken care of you regardless of what you might think. I never sold you for my own gain and I would never have taught you the cat-fist had I known what the results would be. Kill me if it satisfies you, but know that I do love you as my son."

"The same goes for me, my son." Nodoka followed Genma's actions as she too knelt down and bowed down low in front of Ranma. "I should have been there for you. I never had any intention of following through with the Seppuku contract. After all, what kind of mother would I be if I took a six-year-old child's childish antics as an approval of the contract. I would never kill you my son, I would not even ask you to take your own life. I ask that you forgive your father and I for having acted the way we did as we waited for this day. Know that we will accept any decision you make."

The sudden change in his parents caught Ranma completely off guard. He didn't know what to do. On one hand he could finally get back at Genma for all that he'd done to his life. But then, he hadn't sensed anything other than sincerity during his short speech. That alone told Ranma that Genma truly did care for him and that he had not meant for any of this to happen.

The same went for his mother. Though he knew that she would never hold him to the contract, he was still surprised by her last words. He had expected her to ask him to forgive either herself, Genma or both of them and leave it at that. Knowing that she will accept whatever he decides was completely a surprise.

"I…" He began but found that he could not find the right words to say. "I… don't know what to say. Could… Could you give me some time to think about it? I just… I just want to make sure I don't regret what I say." Both his parents looked up and nodded at him with passive looks on their faces. No look of relief or whatsoever that he had expected. Turning to Happosai he said, "So, what now? I mean, am I really engaged to Belinda now?"

There was a small moment of silence before Happosai suddenly burst out laughing while Belinda herself was giggling madly before she too began to laugh uncontrollably. Genma and Nodoka held their laughter while everyone else was suddenly confused once again.

Katsumi and Bianca turned to each other with puzzled looks. They seemed to be receiving constant surprises that day. The first few came before and during the fight. A few more came just as they arrived and Happosai began his tale. A few more after he and Belinda returned from the next room and now they were treated to the sight of Belinda not only smiling, but laughing out loud as well.

"Wh-" Happosai started but was cut off by another burst of laughter. "Whatever gave you… that idea Ranma? I have no authority to be engaging you to anyone. I am only the Grandmaster of the style you practice, nothing more."

"Then what the hell was that about taming me and stuff? You said that it was something no one else has been able to do."

"You're simply taking it the wrong way m'boy. Don't forget, I said that this is something that nobody has managed to accomplish. It isn't something that is restricted to the female population. Ranma, the word 'tame' has many meanings, though I suppose using it to refer to your name wasn't the best choice given your situation" he said, finally reigning in his laughter.

"What I meant was that her next task was to defeat you in a fight without restrictions. You are one of the most powerful fighters in the world, the most powerful of your own generation and one of the few who can utilize chi the way you do. There are only about ten or so of you who qualify for all three in the entire world but two of them are retired, five only choose who they fight and the rest have hidden themselves quite well."

"So?"

"In short you are the most powerful fighter who can easily be found and can easily be challenged. The other masters also acknowledge this and now that the first of many have come, more will be coming. And each one of them will face a different challenge to overcome when they meet you."

"So… I'm not engaged? To anyone?" The look of hope that bloomed on Ranma's face was unmistakable.

"No. You never were. We couldn't reveal this too early for certain reasons. Nevertheless, you should be glad to know at least that you now have no obligations to marry anyone. And personally, even if they do master ten other schools both of you would have to be willing to marry each other. So in the end, the decision to marry will be your own."

"But still… What's the point of all this old man?"

"You see, the other masters and I have had an idea several years before you were born. However, for that idea of ours to take place we need people to see martial arts as more than a hobby. We must show them that martial arts is more than just a hobby or a fancy way of fighting."

"And that idea is…?"

"I'll tell you when the other masters and I have gotten everything ready. Until then take care. I'll be seeing you."

"Wait," Ranma called out, stopping Happosai just before he jumped off the outer wall and into the darkening town. "What happens now? I mean, ain't I suppose ta fight Katsumi next?"

"Uh… well, actually I'd really like to wait and train a bit more," Katsumi replied nervously. After seeing Ranma fight earlier that day she knew she was clearly outmatched. Unlike his fight with Belinda, he would not need a chi blast to knock her out. "I can honestly say that I wouldn't be able to win against Ranma right now. Perhaps in a few weeks? Maybe even months?"

"Well there you have it Ranma. You'll be fighting her in a few months or whenever she feels confident enough to fight. But don't ignore your training as we can't be too sure when the next challenger will show up. Genma will know what to do in my place while I meet with the other masters."

Before another word could be said Happosai was gone, easily seen bounding off the rooftops of the neighboring buildings until he could no longer be seen.

"Well," Belinda began, breaking the silence. "I suppose we should get going now. We'll still need to find a hotel for us to stay in seeing as we'll be here for quite a while."

"Well, you should at least stay for dinner then," Nodoka offered. "That way Ranma, my husband and I can accompany you."

"Eh? Where are we going mom?"

"Well, now that you are no longer engaged to Akane there is no reason for us to stay, unless, of course, you want to continue staying here. It's been a long time since we've lived together and I would like us all to live together in our own home once more."

Ranma didn't get the chance to reply as Kasumi announced that dinner was ready and began to bring it out from the kitchen. Strangely enough, Akane and Soun had been quiet since they learned that there was never an engagement. Akane hadn't even attacked Ranma like he had expected but he wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

"Oh Ranma," Nodoka began just before dinner started. "Even if you choose to stay here for a while longer I still expect to see you at our home after school for your lessons. And we will also be meeting this Saturday for the entire day."

"Do I have to?"

"Yes son. Remember our agreement."

"Alright mom," he said, knowing that it would be useless to argue at that point. "Well, at least the day wasn't all bad. I'm not engaged to the tomboy anymore."

"RANMA YOU IDIOT!"

'Ok, I'm definitely going back with mom and pops.'

_END CHAPTER 4_

**Hehehe, how was this chapter? Didn't see that coming did you?**

**I'd have thought you guys would have caught on. I've already stated that I was only considering throwing in some Romance but I wasn't sure. If I **_**was **_**sure of throwing it in then I would have engaged Ranma. Don't forget, I'm the Overlord of Order and I fix problems, not make them. That's my brother's job in this fic. Oh by the way, before I forget, the next chapter will be **_**Explanations Part 3**_** seeing as there are still questions I've left unanswered that HAVE to be answered immediately.**

**I know there are still a lot of unanswered questions and I've made more questions for you to ask in this chapter. All I ask is that you be patient and wait for the next few chapters. **

**As usual, please click the 'GO' button at the bottom of the page and leave a review telling me what you think. Just so you know, I'll definitely be laughing my butt off when you guys realize you pulled an Akane and jumped to conclusions. Even if you don't realize this I'll still be laughing. Anyway, hope you enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I did writing it. :D**


	6. Arc 1 Chapter 5

Terms of Engagement

By Overlord of Order and Overlord of Chaos

**SUMMARY: What if many of the on-goings involving Genma and Nodoka was all a hoax? What if most of what they've said was a lie? What reason could they have to lie to so many people? What does it have to do with Ranma's future?**

**Hey everyone. Sorry it took us so long to update. The second semester's just start and we're already busy with schoolwork. Some of the reviews I've gotten are actually haunting me when I think of the story. I'm actually tempted to reveal everything here and now but that would spoil everything. **

**Anyway, here's the next chapter I've kept from all of you for too long.**

_Arc 1: Mysteries_

_Chapter 5: Explanations Part 3 and Mysteries_

The streets of Nerima were dark, lit only by the streetlights that could be seen around the area here and there. In the darkness, one group of six figures, made up of two groups of three, walked together. One group was composed of the Saotome family, walking back to their home from the Tendo Dojo. The other was composed of Belinda, Katsumi and Bianca, who were being accompanied along the way to a hotel by the first group.

Their trip was silent the entire time, not a single word being uttered by anyone of them. One was in deep thought, another simply remained silent, two were simply walking while the last two either didn't want to break the silence or couldn't gather the courage to do so. After only a few moments, the two groups parted ways with only a few nods of acknowledgement from four of the six people before they went their separate ways.

Before he knew it, they were already at their home. Ranma looked up from the ground towards the front door of his family's new home, having one built after his former fiancées had fought in the previous one. This one was similar to the old one and the Tendo Dojo at the same time. A somewhat large house with two floors and a dojo. There was also a yard large enough should they decide to take students sometime in the near future and the dojo lacked space for them all.

As Genma unlocked the door and stepped aside to allow Nodoka to enter, both of them saw that Ranma still stood at the gates, lost in his own thoughts. "Ranma?" Nodoka spoke softly as she approached her son. "Is something the matter?"

Ranma broke free from his thought, looked up to face his mother and met her gaze. "No." He paused for a while as though thinking of what to say next. "I need to clear my head."

Nodoka nodded in understanding as she pulled out a set of keys from inside her clothing. She handed them to Ranma, who accepted them with a grateful nod. "Take as much time as you need Ranma but don't stay out too late. You still have classes to attend to tomorrow."

Without a word, Ranma nodded as he walked away, his thoughts once again replaying the events that had happened earlier that day. 'So the engagements weren't official after all,' he began to think, somewhat disappointed as it meant his life would no longer be as exciting. 'Then again maybe my life would be better without all the trouble I have to go through everyday.'

Unfortunately, Ranma's thoughts were cut short by the sound of a familiar voice just around the corner. 'Happosai?' Without having to think about it, Ranma quickly masked his presence as he stopped walking just before he turned the corner. 'What's he doing out this late? I thought he said he was going to meet with some other masters?' Another voice spoke in reply to whatever it was that Happosai had said and Ranma had to make sure to hide his surprise, seeing as he needed to concentrate in order to hide from someone like Happosai. Simply masking his presence wouldn't be enough though, that much he knew. The aged Grandmaster would still be able to sense him if he gave any indication that he was there. All he had to do was not be seen or heard and he'd be fine. 'Belinda too? What are they talking about out here?'

He took a deep breath as he dared to peek around the corner. It took a lot more concentration to hide his surprise as he noticed that both Bianca and Katsumi were there as well. He pulled his head back before he was seen as he listened in to the rest of the conversation. "Well, the second part of the plan is in motion," stated Belinda. "How much longer do you think we have?"

"I can't say," Happosai replied. "Because of the plan many things have changed all too soon. Ranma's skills and abilities are growing faster than before. At this rate we'll have to work at least twice as fast if we want any hope of keeping up with him."

"I still don't get it," commented Bianca. "I mean why do we have to wait for so long before we do anything? You're stronger than him at the moment and Belinda is easily at his level. Can't we just get on with the plan and kill him now?"

'Kill?' Ranma's mind quickly went into overdrive upon hearing the word. 'Kill who? Me? Pops?'

"Think Bianca, think," he heard Katsumi say. "What good would it do for us to kill him now? We can't kill him at this point and you know that. Physical strength isn't all that matters when you fight someone. He's smart, smarter than anyone gives him credit for. He's a genius when it comes to a fight. He was not fighting to his full potential earlier. If he was then he would have beaten all of us with no need for special techniques whatsoever."

"He-He's that strong?"

He couldn't tell since he wasn't looking, but one of them probably nodded to confirm Bianca's statement. He doubted they would talk like that only to deny it.

"You're the youngest of us here and you've yet to face him. Katsumi and I have fought him before and have yet to win, not even now when we're much stronger than we were before," Belinda began again. "We've dealt with him before and only a few of you haven't fought him. He was strong at that time, strong enough to beat all of us in the Alliance together. We've grown stronger but it is still not enough given what happened. If I'm wrong then perhaps we were simply unlucky. But I highly doubt that."

"Quite true. All of us could beat him now but like I told you all before, it's not the time for that. We have to wait for just a little below a year before we strike. Say that we do attack right now Bianca, and say that we beat him. What would happen then?"

"Then we've completed the mission successfully."

"Wrong. We just made the situation worse." There was a short moment of silence before Happosai continued his statement. "If we kill him now then we would alert his father of our plans. If that were to happen, he would send his servants to dispose of us before we could even get the chance to attack him directly. Time plays an important part here. We need to initiate the third stage of the plan at just the right moment."

Ranma didn't like the sound of things. At that moment he could only think of two people they could be trying to kill. One was himself but that couldn't be right. For one thing he wasn't holding back in the fight earlier today. He was fighting as best as he could without using a chi attack. Another was that he couldn't remember fighting any of them, save for Happosai, in the past. Another was that Genma had no servants that he knew of. That only meant that they could be trying to kill Genma. 'But…' Ranma thought carefully as he put together the pieces of the puzzle that he already had. 'If they wanted to kill pops then that means he's a lot stronger than I thought. If he is then why does he hold back when we spar only to lose in the end. None of this makes sense.'

"Well, it's been a long day," he heard Happosai say. "I'll be heading back to the Tendo Dojo now. You three take care then."

Ranma felt Happosai's presence move away from him, allowing him the chance to sigh a bit in relief. Deciding that he might as well head back he turned around and walked back the way he came. He was completely unaware that the trio of girls had rounded the corned and had seen him walking away from them just as he passed the next intersection. "Do you think he heard us?" Bianca asked worriedly as she paled slightly at the thought of their plans unraveling barely a day after they had arrived at their destination.

Belinda shook her head. "I'm not sure. Happosai was with us. We all scanned the area just before we began to talk about the plan. If he was here then we would have known immediately. Unless he knew of some way to hide every trace of his chi."

"Maybe he came from another direction then," Bianca suggested. "It is an intersection after all."

Katsumi agreed with Bianca as they began their trek back to the hotel they were staying in. Belinda, however, was not fully convinced. 'If he was there then we'll have to be more careful. Forgive us Ranma. But this is something that must be done.'

--------------------

The next day came too quickly and passed to slowly for Ranma. He had trouble sleeping the previous night due to the conversation he had overheard. Even now, his thoughts were occupied by the thought that those three, along with Happosai, had planned to kill someone, most likely his own father. 'What'd you do this time pops,' he kept asking himself knowing it would be pointless to ask. He'd either deny it or he might not remember at all. The bell rang a few moments later and they were dismissed for lunch. Letting out a heavy sigh Ranma picked up his school bag and leapt right out the window like he usually did. Although this time he didn't head straight for the tree where he usually ate. This time he left the campus and went straight for home.

Just like the night before, he wanted to clear his head. There was too much going on for him to think clearly right now. He needed something to distract him. He was thinking about trying to spar with Genma or perhaps see if Ryoga was in the area when he saw something ahead of him. Rather, he saw someone. 'Ukyo?' He thought as he watched the chestnut haired girl walk through the gate leading to someone's home, his home. 'What's she doing here? Maybe pops shouldn't have said all that yesterday.'

He wanted to run up and stop her before she could enter but he stopped himself. 'Wait,' he thought as something entered his mind that bothered him. 'Ucchan was in the classroom when I left so how'd she get here before me? I didn't even sense her until I saw her. What's going on here?' He took a deep breath and let out a heavy sigh as he made a quick decision. 'I'm probably gonna regret this but I might as well if I want to get any answers.'

Making sure that nobody was watching him he cloaked himself in the Way of the Silent Thief, Genma's own creation, as he stealthily made his way to his own home. Unknown to Genma though, Ranma had spotted the weakness of the technique that would allow anyone who could sense chi to find him.

Because he made it appear as though his chi disappeared, the area he occupied would be completely empty. Not even the slightest trace of chi that would normally be found in the air could be detected. Where there was something before, there would then be absolutely nothing. Simply by extending their senses, someone would be able to find the area that nothing occupied because something, rather someone, was already there. Asides from distracting the person, this was the only method of finding someone hidden under the Way of the Silent Thief.

Ranma could only hope that Genma didn't know this as well. Taking another deep breath and letting it out, Ranma stealthily made his way into his own home. He found Ukyo in the living room where she was talking with both Nodoka and Genma, both engagement contracts on the table between them. Ranma thanked whatever Kami was watching him right now as he was fortunate enough to have arrived just as they began. "So, what did you come to talk to us about Ms. Kuonji?" Asked Nodoka, always the polite host in her own home.

"It's about that favor you asked of our family," came the simple reply from the brown haired girl.

"I see. Well, in any case you've done your part. Our family owes you a great deal for what you've done up until this point. Should there be anything you need then know that we will gladly help."

Ranma watched as both Genma and Nodoka bowed to Ukyo in thanks. 'For what?' Ranma wanted to yell out but something was telling him that he should stay hidden a while longer and that getting caught would be very bad for his health.

"Thank you," Ukyo replied, bowing as well as they all rose at the same time. "I do have one request though. I'm sure this goes without saying but don't let my work go to waste. It was hard keeping up appearances, especially when your patience is tested so much. So tell me, how goes the plan then?"

'Plan? What plan?'

"It's proceeding as smoothly as can be," Genma replied, speaking for the first time during that conversation. "We've entered the third stage now that the others have arrived."

"I see, that's good to hear. Tell me though, when will Ranma finally gain access to his heritage?"

The question seemed to cause Genma and Nodoka to become slightly more serious in Ranma's opinion. Genma could be seen concentrating, as though trying to sense if anyone was eavesdropping on their conversation. Ranma quietly let out a sigh of relief when Genma seemed to nod to confirm something. "He will receive his heritage in a little below a year," Nodoka then replied to Ukyo's question after receiving the nod from her husband. "Why do you ask?"

"I simply want to be there when he does. I want to see what his reaction will be when he receives it. Anyway, I have to get back to school. I'll be leaving this weekend after I tie up a few loose ends. You know how to contact me when the time comes."

"Don't worry, we'll be sure to contact you beforehand Ms. Kuonji. After all, we owe your family as well as a few others a great deal for what you've all done to aid us with my father's plans." Those words that Genma had just spoken caused an alarm to ring in Ranma's head and he immediately knew that what was said was very important. He made a note to remember this conversation as best as he could. "Ranma still has a ways to go but I'm certain that he will succeed in the end. Shall I see you out?"

Ranma took that as his cue to leave as he silently made his way out once more, once he was far enough not to be seen he dropped the technique and quickly moved away from the Saotome household and the Tendo Dojo. He didn't go to his usual spot under the bridge as a lot of people knew about that. Instead he went straight to where they would least expect him to go to willingly.

A few minutes later, he was sitting atop the school cross-legged, thinking about everything he's just heard. It was something he rarely did, especially to great lengths that he would need complete concentration. He recalled everything from the moment he met Katsumi, Bianca and Belinda up to what he had just heard in his own home. Every conversation, every word that was said down to the tone used and what their body language told him. Now that he took the time to think about it he learned a bit more about the situation.

One thing he learned was that none of them were lying at any point during that time. 'Maybe they aren't telling me everything,' he reasoned and decided to look into it further when he had the time. Another thing he noticed was that Happosai, while seemingly siding with the trio of girls, seemed to be working with Genma and Nodoka as well. The incident regarding his fiancées was proof of that along with what he overheard last night.

Belinda, Katsumi and Bianca were another matter. The three of them seemed to be telling the truth as far as he could tell but seeing that he just met them it would be better if he played it safe for now. 'Bianca was the youngest,' he remembered hearing them say. 'But she doesn't look that young. She looks just as old as they do. Katsumi's another mystery. How could she black out during a fight when she was clearly awake?'

Thinking back, Ranma recalled what it was that Katsumi had said to them. 'She was fighting then she blacked out and only woke up after the fight. I must be missing something here.' He shut his eyes in concentration and recalled the memory of the fight. That was all he needed to do as he remembered what she had said during the fight, or rather how she had said it. 'That's right. That didn't sound like something she would say. It was as if her personality changed right there. Bianca and Belinda were even surprised but Belinda seemed to know what was happening afterwards. Another personality maybe?'

That was the only possible conclusion that Ranma could come up with but even that seemed highly unlikely. To him at least. Belinda was the one that interested him the most. As far as he could tell, they were very similar. They both didn't like being bothered, but he would at least listen while she seemed to only do what she wanted to do, or rather, not do what she didn't want to do. They both enjoyed martial arts and fighting, that much was certain. She was also very skilled in a fight. Something that definitely caught Ranma's interest.

Not only that, but her weapon was also very interesting. 'It started out as a staff then with two additional katanas on each end it becomes much longer and much more dangerous. Then at middle portion it can be separated but kept together by an elastic cord that could stretch to at least five meters long.' He knew this based on their distance from each other when she had launched the weapon at him near the end of the fight. 'I'm definitely going to enjoy the rematch.'

It was only when the school bell rang that Ranma realized just how long he had been sitting there. Looking down from the roof, he noticed the students beginning to pour out of the school. Eventually he saw Akane walk out, looking around for someone. 'Probably me,' he thought as he took note of the angry look on her face. He waited for her to leave before leaving school and heading home. When he got home he took off his shoes as he walked in, calling out that he was home. When he got to the living room, he saw that they had guests. "What brings you girls here?"

All three of them looked up upon hearing his voice but before they could say anything someone else entered the room. "Ah, Ranma my boy, you're right on time. I was just looking for you." Looking to his right he saw Happosai enter the room with Nodoka, who was carrying a tray of tea. "Now that you've passed the first of many tests to come you'll have to train even harder."

"I already know that," Ranma replied, wary of what Happosai was saying. "What's your point? You want to train me?"

The diminutive old man shook his head but kept eye contact with the taller boy. "No, you've probably learned everything that you can from Genma and myself. No, I won't be training you. Your training will be to train someone else in the school of Anything Goes."

"So, you want me to teach those three?"

"Yes, however it's not just them. I want to officially open the school once again. However, even though Genma isn't quite the fool he is as you already know, he is very lazy. I doubt anyone would want to be taught by me so that only leaves you." Before Ranma could say a word of protest Happosai raised a hand to stop him from saying anything. "Think of it as a way of training as well as a test. How can you teach if your forms are incorrect? Do you understand the art enough that you can explain it with words and actions in a way that others may understand it? Consider this my final test for you. Pass this test and you will be on your way to being declared as the new Grandmaster of the school of Anything Goes."

"And if I fail?"

"This is a test you can't fail. Although how long it will take before I'm satisfied with your performance is another matter. Once I'm satisfied that you can carry on the school then you have passed. How does that sound?"

"Alright old perv, what's going on?" Ranma suddenly snapped at him. "You know a lot more than you're telling me."

"Now is not the time to discuss this Ranma," Happosai replied sternly, ignoring the looks they were receiving from the other four people in the room. "I admit, I'm not telling you everything but as I said, now is not the time to be discussing this. I'll tell you once everything is ready or whenever I deem you ready to hear what I have to say, whichever comes first. Until then you have to be patient."

Ranma narrowed his eyes and glared at Happosai, who returned the glare with just as much intensity. "Tch, fine, whatever," he said, turning away from Happosai and walking off angrily as a faint red aura appeared around him. "I'm going out. Don't wait up."

They all watched as Ranma left the room, his anger evident in the way he spoke and walked. Happosai sighed heavily, feeling as though the burden he was already carrying had become heavier. 'I should have expected this,' he said mentally. 'It's only been a day since these three arrived as well as fixing the fiancée problem. He got answers but I'm sure he has more questions now than ever before. With the sudden change Genma, Nodoka and I have shown it's no surprise he'd be suspicious. Still, forgive me Ranma. But this is something that must be done while we still have the chance.'

--------------------

Outside the Saotome household, Ranma walked past the gates to his home and began to wander around the area, familiarizing himself a bit more with the neighborhood. At least that's what it looked like. While outside Ranma looked around as though memorizing what he was seeing, inside his thoughts were in complete chaos. Right now, he was trying to clear his head of everything that's happened so far but to no avail. Too much had happened in a short amount of time and it was all still fresh in his mind.

'What am I gonna do?' He thought desperately as he collapsed onto the ground and leaned against a tree in the park he had entered. 'I can't keep running and stalling whenever something goes wrong. Especially not from something like this. I really don't get it. Ever since those three came practically everything turned upside-down. Mom and pops are acting like normal people, Happosai hasn't groped anyone once and the engagements are gone. But then, the three of them are here to kill someone and Ucchan sounded like she was in it the whole time.'

"WHAT THE HELL'S GOING ON?!" He suddenly yelled out, a dark red aura appearing around him as he spun around to deliver a powerful punch at the tree he was leaning on. Sure enough it hit full power and the tree trunk exploded with a shower of wood as the rest of the tree fell backwards, knocking some of the other trees down as well. As soon as the last falling tree hit the ground, he quickly realized that someone gasped right after he had punched the tree.

He quickly turned on his heels and dropped into a fighting stance, he saw that it was only Bianca and Belinda, the former with a shocked look on her face and the latter with a calm and passive one. "S-Sorry," Bianca stuttered out, trying to hide the fear she felt upon seeing the aura surrounding the pigtailed boy. "F-For s-startling you I mean."

Ranma took a deep claming breath as he relaxed a bit and dropped out of his stance. "Forget it," he said then collapsed onto the ground once more. "What're you doing followin' me anyway?"

"Well I uh… Well you see it's… uhm…"

Belinda sighed tiredly as she answered for her companion. "She wanted to make sure you were alright. And," turning to the brown haired girl she said, "I fail to see why you have to drag me along."

"Uh well, sorry," she replied sheepishly as she nervously reached behind her head and tugged on her braided hair. "I was suppose to grab Katsumi but I guess I pulled you by mistake."

Belinda's left eye was twitching as a she tried to keep her temper in control. "Well next time make sure you take the right person with you. If not at least make sure it's not me." Ignoring whatever Bianca had left to say she turned to Ranma and said, "But just the same I suppose this is partly our fault. Everything did start when we arrived yesterday."

"No, don't be. Yeah, it started when you girls got here but it's not really your fault. Everything just feels so… strange. Happosai ain't gropin' anyone anymore, mom ain't going on about manliness and grandkids and pops hasn't insulted me once about anything. Everything's moving too fast for me to handle."

"I can relate to that," said Belinda as she sat down beside Ranma as she gazed out towards the lake in front of them, Bianca's presence seemingly forgotten as she sat down as well. "I come from a village of Demon Hunters in Europe. One day the entire village was practically wiped out by one demon. A small group of us, including my father and I, had been out hunting when it happened. Seeing what happened to the village we set out to hunt down the demon responsible for it. Unfortunately, we failed. That was when my father told me about this challenge and told me to travel in order to become stronger."

"I just couldn't believe it. One day everything was right then the next thing I know everything was destroyed and I was given the task of traveling the world to gain strength. I was only 14 at that time, much too young to be traveling by myself, but none of the other survivors were in any shape to travel. Even if they did heal, most would be crippled for life. My father and two others stayed to take care of them, leaving me the only one who could bear the burden."

"Why are you telling me this?" Ranma suddenly asked, a curious look on his face visible when Belinda turned to face him.

She paused for a while, gazing into Ranma's eyes as she contemplated her answer to that question. "I honestly don't know," she replied in a solemn tone, a sad look on her face as she turned away to look back to the lake. "Perhaps because it's similar to what you're facing now. Everything's changing so fast and you have no idea of how to cope with it. You feel helpless, possibly even thinking that the situation really is hopeless, that you can't seem to find the answers you're looking for. You find an answer but you end up with more questions than when you started."

"Believe me Ranma, my life has revolved around situations like this ever since that demon attacked. Until now, I can never forget the face of the demon that killed my family. And yet whenever I get an answer to a question related to him, several more come up. And so long as I cannot answer all those questions then I know that I have no hope of beating him."

"The demon's that strong?"

"Strong isn't the right word to use. He… He was like a god. He fought like one as well. He knew everything we were about to do and no matter how hopeless it seemed for him, he would always escape. No amount of strength and no amount of planning could stop him. All our best strategies failed, every technique was easily countered, every injury healed in an instant and every attack was returned hundredfold."

Ranma was about to say something when he saw something on her face. A tear. A lone teardrop made its way down the side of her face as she recalled the painful events of her past. Ranma could see it in her eyes. She was definitely much more like him than he had originally thought. The look on her face was the same as the one he had seen on himself as he reflected on his life. She was trying to hold it all in, not wanting to show weakness in front of anyone. Ranma was still the same, believing that if he should cry then he should at least do it where no one would see him.

Trying to think of something to say, he said the first thing that came to his mind. "Everything will turn out fine for us," he said softly, almost as though he didn't believe it himself. "I'll get through this for sure. And I'm sure you'll be able to get back at that demon."

"Heh, I doubt I'll be able to kill the demon even if I wanted to," she said to herself.

Unfortunately for her, she had said it quietly but still loud enough for Ranma to hear, causing him to stare at her a bit as he processed what she said. 'Why would she say that?' He began to wonder as he turned towards the lake once again before he was caught staring at her. 'A demon destroys the village she lived in and she can't kill it? Man, girls sure are weird sometimes.'

Unfortunately, he too had said it aloud as Belinda, sadness now forgotten, and Bianca turned to him with angry looks on their faces. "WHAT WAS THAT?!" Both of them yelled into his ear as they smacked his head from behind, sending him flying towards the lake. "Jerk," they commented as they walked away.

A few seconds later, a dripping wet Ranma-chan walked back towards where she sat, grumbling all the way as she took off her shirt to wring out the excess water. Putting her shirt back on she slumped down to the ground once again, this time she laid down on the grass to stare at the sky, watching the clouds as they came and went. "Now what?" She asked herself, shutting her eyes as she once again went through everything that had happened, including what she had learned from Belinda just then.

'So far Belinda's story just gave me more questions,' she noted. 'But now I'm interested. I think it's time I did some research on everything that's going on.' With a content look on her face she sat back up and walked out of the park, looking like a heavy burden had been lifted off her shoulders. Pausing just outside the park, she smiled a bit more as she walked towards her home. 'Maybe it's time I paid a visit to the best information hunter I know.'

_END CHAPTER 5_

**Hey, sorry again for taking so long with the update. As I said, my brother and I just started with the second semester and we're already flooded with homework and such. Anyway, please click on the 'GO' button at the bottom of the page and leave a review telling me what you think of the story. Thank you. **

_Preview of Chapter 6: Information Hunting_

"What are you saying? We've got proof right in front of us. How could you say it doesn't exist?"

"There's more going on here than you realize Ranma. For once in your life, use your head and think before you do or say anything"

"I'll get my revenge on Zoran if it's the last thing I do"

"Uh… Nice to meet you all. I'm Ranma Saotome"

**Until the next chapter then. See ya.**


	7. Arc 1 Chapter 6

Terms of Engagement

Terms of Engagement

By Overlord of Order and Overlord of Chaos

**SUMMARY: What if many of the on-goings involving Genma and Nodoka was all a hoax? What if most of what they've said was a lie? What reason could they have to lie to so many people? What does it have to do with Ranma's future?**

**Not much to say to those who reviewed the pervious chapters. Some came to the conclusion that Ranma is the demon, one of which said that he could be from a Demon Hunter's clan. Of course, I'm not going to admit or deny this so you'll just have to wait like all the others. **

**This chapter has some insight on that so it would help with your speculations. Good luck though. Here's the next chapter.**

_Arc 1: Mysteries_

_Chapter 6: Information Hunting_

"How goes the extraction project Armadiel?"

He looked around the room from his current position. Well, as much as he could given that all he could move at the moment were his eyes. To his right was the person who spoke, who sat on a large seat, which reminded him of a throne. 'Maybe it is a throne.' The man that sat on the throne was shrouded in shadows that seemed to cover most of the room save for a circular area near the center of the room. To his left were two people who stood in the shadows, right in front of the door they had just walked through.

A large shadowed figure stepped out a bit, just enough for his silhouette to be seen. "Everything goes well my Lord," the figure replied in a deep, rumbling voice that echoed throughout the room. "We've recently received a large shipment of Spirit Crystals, allowing us to proceed with our research much faster than we had expected. The prototype for the new armor has been completed and is currently being tested against the elements."

"Very good," said the first speaker in a rich baritone. His voice was smooth and silky, the kind one would hear from a charismatic leader. "What of you Azriel? Do you have anything to report?"

Another figure stepped out from the shadows, obviously female from the shape of her silhouette. "The first wave is ready to strike my Lord." Her voice was rich and sultry as it carried over across the room when she spoke. "They await only my word before they begin the assault on those pathetic humans."

"Do not forget what I have told you Azriel," their Lord said, slight anger slipping into his tone as he spoke. "The humans may be weak but they are not stupid. They've fought us to a standstill for the past decade, that alone should be a testament to the power they have. We must not grow too confident simply because we have a new weapon. For all we know they have one of their own."

"Understood my Lord," she said in turn and bowed down past her waist in apology. "I shall not fail you."

"Good. As soon as the testing of the new armor is complete, distribute them amongst our ranks then send out the first wave as soon as possible. Now, go."

"As you wish, Lord Zoran."

**REVIEWREVIEWREVIEWREVIEWREVIEW**

"Man, why can't I just forget all about that weird dream."

Earlier that day, Ranma woke up just as his dream ended. What followed soon after was the same as always. He sparred with Genma, went to school, fell asleep at school and then left school. At that moment, two things occupied his mind as he walked away from the school. One was the dream he just had, and two, was the fact that his life had become boring. At first he thought that not having to deal with the fiancée mess would make his life better. After just two days however, he found that if it wasn't for training he'd probably fall asleep just as easily as he did in the classroom due to the lack of fights and arguments that made his life more interesting.

"I'll get my revenge on Zoran if it's the last thing I do."

Ranma gasped lightly at the name he heard. 'Zoran? That's the guy's name in my dream.' He rounded the corner to where the voice had come from. There, he saw the black-haired martial artist gazing towards the park where a group of children was playing. "Did you just say Zoran?" He asked before he realized what he had said.

Belinda gasped as she spun around and found Ranma standing behind her, a puzzled look on his face while she knew she had a look on her face that showed the small amount of fear and nervousness she was feeling at that moment. "How long have you been standing there?" She asked, fearful of the answer she was about to receive. 'If he heard what I just said then it's all over.'

"Not too long, just a few seconds actually," he replied, oblivious to the look of relief on Belinda's face. "So uh… who is this Zoran guy anyway?"

She sighed in relief upon hearing his answer, now certain that their secret would be safe for now. "Zoran," she began in the same solemn tone she used the day before, leaning against the wall beside her as she continued to watch the children playing around the park. "He… He's the demon that attacked my village."

"Oh. I see." He lowered his head a bit, slightly ashamed to have brought up a painful topic for her. "So uh… what was that you said yesterday then? You uh… said that you didn't think you'd be able ta kill him."

"I really should stop thinking out loud," she muttered too quietly for Ranma to hear. "Well… Zoran is or… was a close friend of mine. No," she cut him off just as he opened his mouth, "Zoran wasn't always like that. True, he was a demon but not all demons are bad. He and I were close friends but something happened along the way that changed him."

"So uh… you don't want to kill him but you want revenge?"

"More or less. Do you remember what I said yesterday? So long as I cannot answer the questions I have, then I know that I have no hope of beating him. Until I know just what motivated him to turn against his friends then I'll just keep hesitating before I can finally kill him."

"Yeah, it isn't easy when ya hafta kill someone. I've only killed once in my life and I still feel bad about it regardless of how I think about it."

She shook her head in reply to his statement. "No, that's not what I'm talking about. He was my friend for quite a while. I know that he wouldn't do anything without a good reason. I want to know why he attacked the village. That way, I'd know if he betrayed the village for personal reasons or for a good reason. Once I know that, then I'll no longer have to hesitate."

"But… why the heck would he attack the village like that? What kinda reason does he have?" Asked Ranma, clearly confused by the situation Belinda was in. "It just doesn't make sense."

"That's what I intend to find out," replied Belinda. She let out a heavy sigh as she pushed off the wall. "Well, I better get going then. Bianca leaves today to redo the entire challenge. I'll see you around."

"Yeah. See ya around."

Ranma watched as Belinda walked away, turning to leave in the opposite direction as he thought about their conversation. He only managed to take one step when he stepped on something. He looked down and saw that he had stepped on a photograph. He bent down to pick it up, brushed off the dirt from where he stepped on it and looked at the picture. It was a picture of a large group of people, standing at the gates of what appeared to be a village with two people in front of everyone else. Turning it around, he saw several words written in English. It said, **"Never forget your home and your family. Most of all, never forget your friends."**

He turned it around again and looked at the people in the photo individually. There, one of the two people standing in at the front was a younger looking Belinda, recognizable only by the weapon she held in her hands. Beside her was an older man with the same weapon that she held. 'Probably her father,' he thought as he placed the picture in his pocket and began to walk once more.

'Ok, that explains who Zoran is,' thought Ranma as he recalled the conversation he held just seconds ago. 'But, why the hell did I have a dream about him? That definitely doesn't make any sense.'

The entire trip to his destination was spent trying to think of a reason as to why he had gotten a dream like that. It made no sense seeing as he had never met or even heard of this Zoran person until today. 'Maybe,' he began to think as he neared his destination. 'Maybe it's because Belinda was talking about it yesterday. But… that can't be right. Maybe it's just a coincidence but knowing my luck it's probably not. Still, it doesn't sound believable really.'

Walking past the gates, he walked up to the door and rang the doorbell, waiting for someone to answer the door. "Coming," called a voice from inside. Ranma heard the sound of footsteps approaching the door, gradually getting louder until the door opened. "Oh my, Ranma. I wasn't expecting you."

"Hey Kasumi," he greeted. "Is uh… Nabiki home yet? I need to ask her something."

"She just got home. I think she's up in her room. Please, come in." Kasumi stepped to the side to allow Ranma and shut the door after he entered. "How have you been Ranma?"

"I'm doing fine Kasumi, thanks for asking. What about you guys? Did anything change since I left?"

"We've been doing fine as well Ranma. Although Akane seems distracted lately. Of course, she's been like that for quite a while now so I don't really think it has to do with you leaving. After all, you're just moving back with your mother."

"I guess. I'll talk to you later Kasumi."

"Alright Ranma. I'll bring up some snacks for you and Nabiki."

Ranma proceeded up the stairs, pausing a while to take a peek into the room he and Genma used to stay in. Stopping in front of Nabiki's door, he raised his fist and knocked on the door three times. "Come in," Came Nabiki's voice from the other side of the door. Opening the door and walking into the room, he saw Nabiki sitting at her desk in front of her computer. Upon seeing who it was that entered, a sly grin appeared on Nabiki's face as she stopped whatever it was she was doing. "Well, well, what brings you here Saotome? Your photo shoot isn't until tomorrow."

"I need you to look up something."

The seriousness of Ranma's voice surprised Nabiki a bit. "Well this is a first. And I suppose this has something to do with those three girls that arrived? Don't be surprised Saotome, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that there's something about those three. So, what is it you wanted to know?"

"A few things actually. Belinda said she comes from a village of Demon Hunters in Europe but not the exact location. The village was destroyed by a demon back when she was 14. I also need a background check on their history. They told me when they arrived that they met up during the challenge but when I overheard them talking it sounded like they've known each other for much longer than just a _few _years," he said, emphasizing the word few as he paused to think. "That's all I can think of for now."

"Well, that's quite a request. I'll need some time to find that village of hers. But I already have something for your background check." She saw the puzzled and slightly surprised look on Ranma's face and sighed. "Did you really think I'd just let them go around without finding out something about them especially when their arrival prompted your parents to suddenly change? Think about it. They could have broken the engagements long ago. Why now? Why break the engagement when those three came. Why not earlier and save you the trouble?"

"Yeah, I was thinking the same thing yesterday. Didn't get any answers though. Oh yeah, something really weird happened yesterday during lunch."

"You mean when you left school?"

"Yeah." Ranma wasn't surprised by this. He seriously doubted his disappearance would go unnoticed. "I was on my way home when I spotted Ucchan walking to my home."

"What's so weird about that?"

"The fact that she got there before me when she was in the classroom when I left is what's weird. She didn't even look like she ran the whole way. I also overheard her talking with mom and pops." This caught Nabiki's interest as Ranma noticed her moving closer to hear the story better. He relayed the conversation he eavesdropped on as best he could, replaying the event in his head as he told Nabiki what he heard word for word. "Whaddya think?" He finally asked after he relayed the story. "It sounded like Ucchan knew about it the whole time but I can't be too sure."

Nabiki hummed thoughtfully, placed her chin in her cupped hand and leaned on her desk. "I can't be too sure yet but you do have a point. I can't believe I'm saying this, but everything you said since you came in has made far too much sense to be a coincidence." She turned back to her computer and continued typing something as she spoke. "Everything about this is connected in some way, I just don't know how. Anyway, I've got bad news for you Ranma."

"Does it have something to do with their background?"

"Right. Actually, there's nothing."

"Nothing? But you just said that there's something wrong with their background."

"I didn't say there's nothing wrong, I said there's nothing. I found basic things such as name, date of birth and all that but other than that, there's nothing. I can't find any record of either one of those three girls and according to my contact at the airport, they didn't come in by plane."

"Are ya sure? I mean, there are a lotta people in an airport."

Nabiki shook her head as she turned to face Ranma once more. "My friend has a photographic memory. He never forgets anything he sees, even if just for a split second. And he works with security so he has access to video records. He hasn't seen anyone matching their description entering or leaving the airport within the past three days."

"What about earlier then? They could have been wandering around for a few days before they came here"

"Hmm… Possible but doubtful Saotome," she replied. "Whoever sent them here should have known the dojo's location, even if not the exact address. Another possible reason could be that they arrived at a different airport but like I said, possible, but doubtful."

"Another thing that bothers me is that it's as if they no longer exist." She didn't even need to look in order to know that Ranma didn't know what she meant. "Sure we know they were born but no matter where I look or how hard I look, it's as though they were born but then disappeared. Bianca and Katsumi finished junior high but never attended high school while Belinda has no school records at all," she said, reading off the computer screen. "I assume it was around that time that Bianca and Katsumi left for this challenge but it doesn't make sense to allow two young girls to travel by themselves."

"Everything about this feels like something is being covered up," she turned back to face Ranma and frowned. "Their records are clean, maybe even too clean, which just makes it all the more suspicious. It's almost as if these are fake identities that they made up in order to hide something they don't want us to know."

Ranma frowned in thought, leaned against the wall and placed his chin in his hands. As he placed one hand inside his pocket he felt something inside that he had forgotten about. "Oh yeah." He quickly pushed off the wall as he pulled out the picture and handed the picture to Nabiki. "I was talking ta Belinda earlier. I think she dropped this." He pointed to the girl up front and said, "See? That's her right there as far as I know."

Nabiki took the picture, listened to what Ranma had to say and pulled out a picture of Belinda she had taken recently. Putting the two photos together, she nodded in agreement. "You're right Saotome, it is her. But it doesn't change a thing. I still think that they don't exist."

"What are you sayin'? We've got proof right in front of us. How could you say they doesn't exist?"

"There's more going on here than you realize Ranma. For once in your life, use your head and think before you do or say anything," Nabiki calmly replied as she relaxed onto her chair. "Don't forget that it isn't impossible to make a photo look real through editing. Besides, for all we know this could just be a group of strangers gathered together for a photo. There are just too many unknown factors for us to make a good conclusion. The fastest but hardest way would be to get them to admit the truth. The longer and only slightly easier method would be to ask other people. Specifically those masters they had supposedly visited."

"Well that's gonna be a problem," he replied, scratching the back of his head. "Any other ideas?"

"Sorry, but that's all I have for now Saotome. So, anything else you care to discuss?"

Ranma shook his head in reply. "So, how much is this gonna set my debt back?"

This time, Nabiki shook her head. "You brought more information that I managed to get so I'll actually be lowering your debt this time. If you can find out a few more things then your debt might actually be forgotten. But the way things are going you'll need all the luck you can get to find out what you need."

"Meh… knowing my luck they probably already know that I know this."

With that, Ranma left Nabiki's room and walked downstairs. With a few words with Kasumi he left the Tendo Dojo, walking back to his home the whole time thinking about everything he's learned so far. 'Nabiki's right about one thing,' he concluded after almost half an hour later. 'Everything's connected one way or another. Maybe even my dream is connected in some way. Heh, wouldn't it be weird if I was some kind of psychic and what I saw was the future? Heh, now that would definitely be a surprise.'

From there, everything went on as it normally would. He returned home, he trained by himself, he sparred with Genma, they ate dinner, he did his homework with help and supervision from Nodoka and went to bed. However, that was where it diverted from how it normally went for once again, he found himself in a strange dream.

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"Are the soldiers ready Azriel?"

Standing from the sidelines once more, Ranma found himself watching the strange dream, or possibly vision, without being able to move at all. This time they appeared to be in the upper area of some kind of underground base or a large tunnel, looking down on a massive army at least fifty meters below them. To his left was the male demon he had come to know as Zoran. However he was unable to see his face, once again hidden in the shadows. To his right he saw the same two silhouettes from before along with two others, both female. "They are ready my Lord," she replied, her head seen nodding even in the shadows. "Each and every one of them has been equipped with the armor we have created. Ten squads of 400 await only your command before they begin the attack."

"Good. How long before we can attack, Armadiel?"

"Their defenses will be at their weakest in exactly half an hour from now," replied the large demon. Among the five of them, he was the only one who was completely visible. The man looked like an ordinary human only larger and more muscular than any man Ranma had ever seen, standing at well over eight feet by his estimation. The only difference was the thick mane of dark blue hair that ran down his back, following his spine and ending at his waist. "From there we will have exactly one hour before the rest of their army returns and reinforces their army. If that happens then our odds of winning will be reduced greatly."

"Well then, going by that we'll have to strike hard and fast," Zoran concluded, to which Armadiel only nodded. "Seera, how go the negotiations with the other demons?"

The third member of the four, a female, child-like demon replied to the question. "The foxes and the wolves have agreed to join us as equals as you have asked," she replied in a strange child-like voice. It was strange in a way that it sounded both mature and young at the same time. "The snakes have declined, saying that they would only join us as our superiors. I have yet to contact the other clans. Although, I do wonder why you had asked me to offer an alliance seeing as they never would have agreed to anything else than being the superiors."

"I had expected the snakes to decline but I suppose it was wishful thinking on my part that made me decide to ask just the same. No matter, I had already made plans for them regardless of their decision. Manda, you know what to do."

The fourth member of the group, presumably Manda, nodded and said. "As you wish Lord Zoran," she spoke in a strange voice that sounded much like numerous people speaking together. Ranma couldn't decide if the voices sounded more like a male or female so he settled for assuming that there was an equal mixture of both. "Will that be all?"

Zoran nodded and said, "You may go. Armadiel, Azriel, as soon as the time comes, send out the troops. Leave no survivors. Should the rest of the army arrive before their base is wiped out then go out there and finish them yourselves. Should you still find it difficult to overcome them then you are to fall back and leave the soldiers to fight."

"What of the armor my Lord?" Asked Azriel. "If they were to retrieve even just one then there could be no telling what they would do with the knowledge."

"There is no need to worry about that Azriel. Everything has been taken into consideration during the planning stages. Should they manage to retrieve even one of our armor then Seera and I will take care of it personally. Now, do you understand your orders?"

"Yes my Lord."

"Then go. If anything unexpected comes up then inform me immediately."

"Understood."

Both Armadiel and Azriel left, leaving Zoran alone with Seera. "So tell me," Seera began in her strange voice. "What exactly are those humans planning? I know that you know so there's no use hiding it from me."

"You're too much like your father Seera," replied Zoran with a grin. "But that's what makes you so valuable to this army. Of course, don't assume that I'll waste resources trying to save you should anything happen."

"Of course not."

"Just as you said, I do know what the humans are planning. However, what I do not know is when they plan to execute it and how. From what I can gather, only a handful of people know this and even then, the information is divided among them. We would not only have to identify those among the humans who know this, but we would need all of them in order to find out the full extent of their plans." He paused for a while, shutting his eyes as though trying to remember something. "I believe," he began, eyes still shut. "That I was told that their strongest warriors, those five warriors we faced before, are aware of the entire plan. If we could capture them then it would be the same as capturing all the others. Of course, this is unconfirmed to date."

"It is… probable that they know of it," replied Seera. "After all, they will be called upon to defend it seeing as they are the strongest of the humans we face. Trust is also an issue here. If their leaders cannot trust their own soldiers, let alone the most loyal and trustworthy of them all, then there would be chaos. They trust them enough to reveal the full extent of their plan so that they would be able to defend it without being told where to go. Of course, this is all speculation so we cannot assume that this is true."

"True. But still, we must take advantage of every chance we are given to end this war soon," Came the calm yet determined reply. "Should the opportunity to capture one of them alive then do so. You of all people should be able to capture one easily."

"Understood. Anything else?"

"There is one but I'm sure your father already knows. He'll tell you once you get back."

"Very well then. By your leave." She bowed down at the waist and left, leaving Zoran alone in the upper area of the tunnel.

Zoran stood there with his back turned to Ranma's position, looking down upon the army that was preparing to march against their enemies. "Tell me something," said Zoran all of a sudden. "What do you think of Seera?"

Ranma could have jumped if he could, as a soft and smooth male voice suddenly spoke from seemingly everywhere yet nobody but he and Zoran heard it. "Well, what is it you wish to know my Lord?"

"Exactly what I said. What is it that you think of her in general?"

The voice appeared to be in thought before Ranma heard it once more. "She is… interesting. She is quiet and reserved, yet she is the fiercest and most ruthless among all of us when in battle. Her level of bloodlust is second to none, and her skills and abilities are only surpassed by one other. And of course, we cannot ignore the fact that she is the same in battle as when she is with her mate."

Zoran chuckled at this, somewhat darkly but with a hint of humor in it just the same, while Ranma's face began to resemble a tomato. "Quite. Tell me this then. How would you like to have her as your own?" Zoran seemed to take pleasure at something, as the voice didn't reply. "Don't forget what powers I possess," he said, back still turned to Ranma. "And also, asides from me you are the most invaluable member of this army and my choice for my future successor. I do not have much time in this world. I would probably move onto the next plane of existence before they execute their final plans."

"I do not understand," the voice finally replied after a long, for Ranma, moment of silence. "I am nothing more than a half-breed. Why would you choose me as your successor? Nobody would follow me once you have gone. You are the only reason they follow my orders. They respect me out of fear, not out of loyalty."

"That is where you are wrong," came Zoran's swift reply. "You shall discover in time that you have many supporters among the higher ranking demons not only of this army but of all the demons. You, Seera and I are the most powerful in this army. Any one of the three of us can fight against any three of the five of the human's best warriors at the same time and come out victorious. Many demon clans fear their power and yet the three of us, individually, can fight half of them at once and achieve victory. But of course, there is one warrior among all the humans that is more powerful than any of them. Even more powerful than the five of them combined."

"Their leader."

Zoran nodded. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but were you not the only one who has fought against their leader and achieve victory as well?" His question was met by silence once again. "I thought so. Therefore, what you lack in blood you make up for with skill and strength. To demons, if you have power then nothing else matters. Of course, we do not know what the humans are planning, which is why I expect you to be the one to lead the demons to victory. However, as I said, we do not know what the humans are planning. For all we know you might even perish, even with your power you are not invincible. Then again, who better to lead the demons after your passing but the offspring of two of our greatest warriors? You and Seera shall make a fine couple."

"Your grace and her ruthlessness, yours and her skills and abilities, your unyielding determination and her ferocity, all that and more molded into one child. I daresay that even you would have trouble against your own offspring when the time comes. Not to imply that you two would fight but in time I'm sure that your child will be able to beat you in a fight fair and square. Well, as fair as we demons go that is."

Once again, silence permeated the air. Although Ranma could understand. Even he would be speechless after hearing something like that. It was then that Zoran turned around and faced in the direction Ranma was in, eyes shut as he began walking towards Ranma. "Think about what I've said my friend. Regardless of your decision, you _are _my future successor. I am simply planning ahead should they find a way to somehow kill you after you have taken over. Although you claim that you would never fall in love, I can see that you long for companionship. Not all demons are heartless you know."

He walked past Ranma, or rather, through Ranma, and left the area while Ranma remained, still unable to move and slightly shocked that Zoran had walked through him. "Heh, maybe you're right Zoran," the voice began to say, unheard by anyone other than Ranma. "You may be right that I need companionship but then again, the only reason you can see it is because you too long for companionship."

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Ranma sat up on his bed the next day, feeling both refreshed and tired after a night's rest. Once again, the dream 'Or vision,' he reminded himself, was stuck in his head like a long lost memory. 'But… it can't be a memory… Can it?' The dream was much longer than the first and seemed much more realistic than the first in a way he couldn't describe. However, not being able to move at all was a strange sensation.

Getting out of bed and preparing for the day, Ranma walked downstairs where he found his mother setting the table and Genma reading the newspaper. It was still strange for Ranma to see Genma like that. Instead of the drunk, lazy and irresponsible father he had for the past decade, he saw a sober, responsible but still lazy father. Genma had actually went around town to hand out flyers regarding the opening of the dojo. Ranma had already accepted the position of instructor for the beginner's group, given the fact that Happosai had told him to. It was temporary until Happosai or Genma deemed him ready to teach the next level.

'I guess teaching a bunch of kids won't be so bad,' he thought as he ate, thinking about what to teach first or what to say first. 'I've never really tried teaching before so I guess I won't know what to do until I actually do.' Finishing off his breakfast he thanked Nodoka for the food and went to the yard. He sat on the ground in a lotus position and began to meditate, thinking about his dream once again.

Nearly an hour later, Happosai walked onto the yard, having just arrived. The old man approached Ranma, waiting for him to come out of his meditative trance as he knew that Ranma knew that he was there. "What now perv?" Ranma asked calmly just as Happosai stopped walking.

"Your first class will be starting in a few minutes," Happosai replied in kind. "Genma and I will lead them to the dojo so you can prepare in whatever way you need."

Ranma simply nodded as he felt Happosai moving away from him. Opening his eyes and standing up, he walked back into the house and up to his room where he pulled out his old, but still useable, training gi and changed into it. He entered the dojo from the back door just as the last student came in from the main doors. He didn't look over the class just yet, his eyes unfocused as he walked to the front of the room, still thinking about what he should do first.

After a few moments of silence between them, he finally took the chance to take a look at the beginner's class. He suddenly stopped, mouth opened to speak, upon seeing his first class. 'T-They're all… girls,' was his only thought as he distractedly began to introduce himself. "Uh… Nice to meet you all. I'm Ranma Saotome."

He bowed, but was unaware of it, his mind still occupied by the fact that every member of the class, ranging from young preteen ages up to women in their thirties, possibly even forties. "Good morning Ranma-sensei," they all greeted and bowed to him, unaware of the shock he had just received.

Ranma cleared his throat to speak and managed to get over the initial shock. "C-Could you e-excuse m-me for a moment?" He asked somewhat nervously. Without waiting for a reply, he walked out of the room. On the other hand, maybe stomped would have been a better way to describe it. When he found the person he knew was responsible for his predicament, his anger quickly rose as he ran straight at him, one arm cocked back ready to punch his lights out. "Poooooooooooooops!!" He yelled out just as his punch connected with Genma's cheek.

Many, if not all, of the females in his class exchanged curious looks with each other but decided that they probably didn't need to know. "WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA POPS?!" They all heard him yell just as some of them managed to get to the dojo doors, mainly the younger kids who couldn't reign in their curiosity. Some arrived just in time to see Ranma land a nasty kick that sent Genma flying off to the side. What Ranma had planned to be a private conversation was then overheard by everyone in the room. "WHY THE HELL DID YOU JUST GET GIRLS FOR THE CLASS? ARE YOU SOME KINDA PERVERT LIKE THE OLD MAN TOO?"

Genma's reply was just as fierce but not as loud as Ranma's. "There's a perfectly good reason for that boy." He returned the kick with one of his own, followed by a punch that sent Ranma's flying as well. "The master and I separated them because it would be pointless if all those men were distracted by the women in the class. Coming here was their decision, my job was to make it known that we would be holding classes here and that there would be a free classes for this weekend."

"Correct," Happosai commented, walking over to the side to observe Ranma as he took out his pent-up anger on his father. "Should they decide to continue then they may sign up if they wish. I'm only interested in teaching my art to those who want. Not to those who use it as a tool to impress others or for their own gain." He took a puff of his pipe, mentally praising Ranma for his quick improvement and understanding of the art as he received an understanding nod in return before Ranma turned to his father once again. "Now then, best get inside and get to teaching. You can work your anger out later."

As much as Ranma didn't want to, he simply picked up Genma by the collar and threw him towards the pond. He didn't bother to see if he would land in the pond as he quickly ushered the younger students in just as a splash was heard. Once they were all inside and he had cooled off, he began once again. "Alright, let's do this again. I'm Ranma Saotome and I'll be your instructor."

_END CHAPTER 6_

**Ok, so how was this chapter? Please tell me what you all think whether it be good or bad, comments, criticism, flames, any at all is welcome. Doesn't matter to me how mean you are with your reviews. It just gives me more reason to improve. Anyway, please click on the 'GO' button at the bottom of the page and leave a review telling me what you think of the story. Thank you.**


	8. Arc 1 Chapter 7

Terms of Engagement

Terms of Engagement

By Overlord of Order and Overlord of Chaos

**SUMMARY: What if many of the on-goings involving Genma and Nodoka was all a hoax? What if most of what they've said was a lie? What reason could they have to lie to so many people? What does it have to do with Ranma's future?**

**Once again, not much to say here. I've changed the genre and threw in Mystery to be more specific for obvious reasons. Ok, so far we have girls who aren't trying to marry him, normal parents, a well behaved grandmaster, no more fiancées, strange dreams and people out to kill someone. **

_**Dumbledork: **_**Don't forget, I never specified who it was they wanted to kill. I only gave hints as to who it was. Even so, it doesn't necessarily mean that the character is already in the story.**

_**Sargon Dorsai: **_**… What made you think that what you said in your review was the reason for the girls in the class? I already stated in the previous chapter the reason why they were all girls in the class. **

**To everyone else who reviewed, Thank You for the reviews. I really appreciate it when you guys tell me what you think about it, regardless of whether or not it was a positive review. Like I said, negative reviews give me more reason to improve how I write. Anyway, on with the story!**

_Arc 1: Mysteries_

_Chapter 7: Family Secrets_

'Two weeks,' he sighed mentally. 'Has it really been that long already?'

Lying on the roof of the Saotome home Ranma continued to think about his current predicament, something he found himself doing ever since they arrived. They being Belinda, Katsumi and Bianca. Asides from training, school and teaching martial arts classes, thinking about that particular topic took up most of his time. He had also visited the Tendo Dojo three more times, all three to drop by and compare findings with Nabiki regarding their mysterious acquaintances. After searching more thoroughly with help from her numerous contacts, Nabiki managed to find something regarding two of the three girls.

The first file was given to him during his second of his three visits. Right after he read through the file, he sought out Katsumi, making it seem as though he wasn't looking for her once they met up. He had asked her a bit about her past, being careful to make it look like he was just curious. Everything seemed to check out and match the background Nabiki had given him regarding the sword-wielding girl. Her parents were Hayate Nishimoto and Michelle Jacobs. Her father ran a dojo and her mother worked at a flower shop.

He carefully prodded her that day, mainly telling her to continue when she paused or asking about something she already mentioned with hopes of getting her to talk about something else. Everything she said and the information they found matched perfectly. "Almost too perfectly," Nabiki commented but refused to explain until she had looked into it further. He also received some background on Bianca but due to the brown-haired girl having to leave he wouldn't have the chance to see if her story matched up.

'This leaves Belinda,' he thought, gazing up at the clouds that covered most of the orange sky. 'We know more about her than when we started but what we already know isn't enough. There's also the fact that they're also here to kill someone but who? It can't be me though. I already know that much seeing as I've never even met them before. It could be pops but I don't think he's that strong. I don't know anyone around that could give them that kind of trouble.'

Upon hearing the sound of the bell that rang whenever the gate was opened, Ranma quickly turned towards the gate and saw his parents walking out together. 'Mom? Pops? Wonder where they're going.' Having nothing better to do, Ranma quickly got up and ran after the couple, catching up to them in mere seconds.

Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how you looked at it, he caught a part of their conversation once more. "-have to replace that spell."

He heard Genma grunt from his position on the rooftops, surprised that Genma hadn't detected him yet. "It's troublesome alright," commented Genma as they turned the next corner. "But until Ranma receives his birthright then we will need Tendo to help us with keeping appearances up and to do that we will have to replace the spell every two weeks."

"I'm surprised that Ranma has yet to detect it," said Nodoka, sounding disappointed at that point. "But I suppose that it is understandable seeing as his heritage was sealed away at such a young age. And with the magic of his Jusenkyo Curse, I suppose that he is simply used to the aura of magic he exudes for him to notice the magical aura around others."

'A spell? On Mr. Tendo? What's going on?' Once again, Ranma found himself in a situation he seemed to be finding himself in quite often these days. He found himself with too many questions and not enough answers.

He quickly and stealthily left the area, went straight home and returned to his spot on the roof to think once again. However, before he could begin to think over the new developments he heard the bell ring once more. He turned his head and founf Belinda shutting the gates after she entered. He jumped down from the roof, made sure he was presentable enough before going inside just as the doorbell rang. "What brings you here Belinda?" He asked after opening the door, letting her into the house as he led her into the main room.

"I just decided to come pay a visit," replied the dark haired girl. "Katsumi's busy training to fight you and I had nothing better to do."

"Shouldn't you be training as well?" Asked Ranma as he brought out some tea. He had gotten used to playing host to numerous people in the past, Nodoka having taught him what to do and, unknown to Ranma, setting it up so that he would have to entertain the guests while they awaited her return from shopping. "I mean, we're both gonna fight later on and all that."

"I know. But training isn't limited to physical training," was the reply he received as he set down the tray and sat down across from her. "Actually, I wanted to talk to you about something. Do you remember when you asked me who Zoran was?" Ranma nodded. "I know you said that you only overheard a small part at the end but I need to ask you this. Have you ever heard that name elsewhere?"

Even with everything he was taught over the past two years there was still one thing that Ranma couldn't do. Lie. "N-No, of course I haven't," he said almost hurriedly. His tone was nervous and he was unaware that he had begun to sweat and that he had a weird smile plastered on his face. "What makes you think I've heard his name before? I mean, it's not like I have dreams about the guy or anything."

Unfortunately for him, that last statement was all Belinda needed to know and fortunately for her, Ranma was too busy trying and succeeding in making a fool out of himself to notice the brief change in her expression. "Relax Ranma, it was just a simple question. No need to get all worked up about it."

Though she was calm and collected on the outside, inside she was cursing up a storm. 'Damn, I can't believe it. It just had to be him. It looks like we'll have to speed up our plans if this keeps up otherwise there could be disastrous consequences.' Her train of thought paused for a moment before an idea popped into her head. 'Or maybe this could work to our advantage.'

After regaining his composure, Ranma managed to ask, "So uh… why'd you wanna know?" Ranma watched as a pensive look appeared on her face, explaining why she didn't answer immediately. He waited for her to reply, her face retaining the same thoughtful look, only seemingly growing more and more intense as though trying to remember something very important. "Uh Belinda?" He called out to her, leaning across the table and waving a hand in front of her face. That got her attention. "Ya alright? Ya looked like you were trying to remember something."

"Hm? Oh, sorry," she said, waving a hand in Ranma's direction as she took a sip of the tea Ranma had served. "It's nothing, just trying to remember the last time I was surrounded by silence like this. Traveling with those two can be quite troublesome. If not for the fact that I needed someone to train with I would have gone ahead of them."

"Y'know something?" Asked Ranma, earning Belinda's undivided attention. "Ya act much older than you look. Ya act like mom." Suddenly realizing what it was he said, he quickly blurted out numerous apologies to quickly diffuse what he assumed to be another Akane moment. "Uh… not that it's a bad thing it's good that ya act like mom," he paused once more before once again realizing what he said. "Uh… wait, that didn't come out right."

Belinda covered her mouth her hand but anyone could see that she was amused by the situation, if not then the way her shoulders were moving should have given it away. "That's alright," she finally managed to say. "I understand what you meant to say. I suppose it is because I was forced to grow up earlier than most. Even then, the events leading up to this point molded me into who I am now."

"Ya sound like you've been through a lot."

"Yes, I have," was the soft reply he received. Her eyes became downcast and he could feel her depression rolling off her in waves like Ryoga when he powered up for a Roaring Lion shot. "I've witnessed many things from when I left the village. I've witnessed just how cruel humans can really be. There were times that I believed that humans were no better than demons. Although in time, I did see that not all humans are as bad as what I had seen, just as not all demons are as bad as they appear to be."

"I've met people who risked their lives to save others at the cost of their own, even going as far as taking another's life to save other people or even just one person close to their hearts. Even though they knew that they would be convicted for murder, they still went through with it to save their loved ones. Those are the kind of people that makes me proud to be a human."

"So… what are ya sayin'?" Ranma asked, becoming uncomfortable at the way the conversation was going. "That it's alright ta kill?"

"Of course it's not," she retorted sharply. She quickly realized what she'd done and took a deep calming breath before she continued in a more pleasant tone. "What I'm saying is that there are those that are willing to risk their lives to save others. I've even seen demons do the same and yet their comrades think so little of them. Those people don't kill simply because they are evil. They kill because unless they do then there will be more pointless killing. Killing a man simply because they see them committing a crime is a poor excuse."

Ranma tugged on his collar, feeling extremely uncomfortable as the fight with Saffron returned to mind, his own guilt surfacing regardless of the fact that he had come to terms with it a long time ago. "H-Have you killed before?" He asked nervously, hoping that she wouldn't ask him the same question. "After you left your village I mean."

"Many times," she replied without hesitation. "Neither Katsumi nor Bianca know about it and until they can handle the burden that comes with it, I don't intend on letting them know. I'm sure you know what I mean." The look she was giving him caused him to shudder involuntarily, as though telling him that trouble was approaching. "After all, you've killed before haven't you?"

"H-huh? What are ya talking about?" He asked nervously, unconsciously shifting himself in preparation to leave. "I h-haven't killed anyone."

She gave him a knowing look, letting him know that he wasn't fooling anyone. "Come now Ranma. I'm not here punish you for it. After all, Saffron was at fault wasn't he?"

"Well, yeah I guess he was" He chuckled nervously as he scratched the back of his head. "…"

"W-Wait." He suddenly backed away, getting to his feet as he looked Belinda straight in the eye. "Y-You knew about him the whole time?" She nodded. "B-But h-how? I mean, you couldn't have known. Could you?"

Belinda only gave him a strange, knowing smile, seemingly ignoring his sudden outburst. "You'd be surprised to know that many people knew what happened on that day." The amused look on her face quickly disappeared as her tone became more serious as well. "Be wary of what is happening around you Ranma. There are many people who would do anything in order to have the power you hold. When we fought for the first time, I kept asking myself what it was that made you so special. What kind of power you hid within you that allowed you defeat a powerful being such as Saffron."

"As we fought I could finally see why you had been able to defeat Saffron." There was both a fond and faraway look in her eyes as Ranma could see her recalling the event. "You had more than just power and skill. Not even centuries of experience could explain the reason for your strength. Your strength came from raw determination. Although we both know that determination alone cannot help, you had much more than that. You have strength that comes not just from your body but from your soul and your heart as well."

Belinda looked up to Ranma, seeing a thoughtful look on his face. She decided that she had done enough for the day so she finished her tea and stood, stopping Ranma before he could stand as well. "I'll leave you to think about what I've said. I'll see myself out."

Whether or not Ranma was affected by that encounter, he didn't show it. He remained rooted to the spot, obviously still thinking about what Belinda had just said to him regarding his strength. Without even realizing it, he was soon back up on the roof, eyes shut as he slowly drifted off to sleep, his mind filled with countless thoughts regarding the situation he was in.

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When Ranma opened his eyes, he quickly realized that he wasn't on the roof of his home any longer. Instead he was standing in the same room where he had his first dream with Zoran in it, the Throne Room. So far he had had at least one dream every three days, not counting the two he had before he began teaching martial arts. During the past two weeks he had gone through nine nights where he dreamt of something where Zoran was involved, all of them having something to do with either preparing for battle or a battle itself, like the last two.

He had witnessed a fight between the humans and the demons, where the demons were led by the four people he had seen with Zoran in the second dream, and Zoran himself. He had also heard both Zoran and Seera speaking to the unseen person from the second dream, the man who, up to this moment, was still unnamed. He wondered whether or not the two had become a couple like Zoran had suggested but didn't think about it too much as it wasn't that important. What confused Ranma was that the mystery man was no where to be found on the battlefield and yet Zoran praised him on his number of humans he eliminated from battle.

During that particular dream, Ranma was moving around. Not of his own accord though. It didn't seem like he was taking the place of one of the soldiers as he was mostly tagging along from behind, so to speak. Almost as though he was bound to one of the people there and could only stay a short distance away, even if Ranma wasn't really there at all.

Looking around the throne room with his eyes, Ranma could see Zoran sitting at the throne. In front of him were Armadiel, Azriel, Seera and Manda, standing behind three others who were kneeling down on the ground facing Zoran. "You may rise."

The three did as they were told and stood. All three were wearing black cloaks that hid their bodies completely and were all wearing masks. The masks though, were different for each one of them. One had the mask of a fox, the other was a wolf while the third only had a plain mask with no designs, no decorations and even no eyeholes, making the person wearing it appear faceless.

"If I may," began Zoran, "What was it that took so long for you three to arrive?" His tone was not scornful nor interested, simply curious. "We had expected you to be here four days ago after all. You had us worried that the humans managed to ambush you on the way here."

The one wearing the fox mask answered first. "Oh, we were ambushed alright" He, no… she replied in a soft voice. The voice was almost angelic to Ranma's ears, reminding him briefly of Kasumi as he compared their voices. Her voice didn't sound like one you would hear from a demon but more of a person like Kasumi, sweet and caring. However, what she said next made Ranma reconsider his thoughts. "They were so fun to play with. Especially their screams before they died. Of course, I did make sure they enjoyed their last moments alive."

"She's still the same as ever," said the wolf in a rough voice. Among the three, he was the largest but he was nowhere close to Armadiel's eight-foot frame. "A vixen through and through and a demon at the same time. I'm surprised nobody even bothered to kill her during her sessions."

"Perhaps that's because I would kill them if they interfere." The fox demon's voice lost its softness and sounded threatening this time around. Though he wasn't really there, Ranma could feel the tension in the air caused by her threat. He could even feel his own hands shaking slightly in fear. "I'm not the Queen of the Demon Foxes for no reason after all. You, of all demons, should know that better than any other should. After all, you were the one to tried to kill me while I was with my lover."

The demons wearing the wolf mask growled but kept from doing anything rash. Ranma on the other hand, wanted nothing better than to run away, the aura of power around the fox affecting him much more than Happosai's ever did. Obviously, being human, he was affected more than anyone else in the room. Now that he thought about it, everyone else in the room didn't seem at all affected by her aura.

"So," began the demon who wore the faceless mask in an indiscernible voice due to said mask. "How long are we going to let the intruder stand in the shadows?"

At that statement Ranma tensed up, if he could move that is. Zoran let out a short chuckle as he raised his hand and gestured towards the shadows in Ranma's direction. Ranma was wondering what he was going to do now but was saved from making the decision when the shadows seemed to extend and take form. The shadow took on a solid form that resembled a full-grown man with no real detail. "This is my right-hand man and my future successor, Ballog."

"Well, well, so this is Ballog," replied the vixen in the same soft but sultry tone she had used earlier. "The only one to have survived an encounter with the leader of the Five Vanguards. Although I must say, I am disappointed. I expected someone much more… impressive."

"Simply saying he survived is an understatement," said the wolf. "He had held off that warrior all on his own, allowing Lord Zoran himself to flee from the battlefield. He even fought three of the Vanguards right after their duel and even when injured, he defeated them, regardless of the fact that he failed to kill them."

"It does make me wonder," commented the third one. "He had defeated them but failed to kill them even though they were at his mercy. Why is that?"

The answer came from Zoran, who, they saw, had a small smile on his face. "I understand his reluctance to kill them, or rather humans in general. Ballog is a half-demon after all. If you watch him during the upcoming battle you will notice that he simply incapacitates his opponents and that the killing blows are delivered by everyone else."

"What good is a demon that cannot kill?"

This time, the answer came from Ballog himself. Although, he didn't express it in words like Zoran did. Ranma felt his fear returning ten-fold upon seeing how fast Ballog had moved, appearing behind the wolf demon before he knew it. Ballog rested a shadowed hand on the wolf's shoulder, who had tensed up as well upon realizing what just happened. "I may not like killing humans," said Ballog, speaking for the first time in a familiar voice that Ranma recognized at once. It was the voice of the mysterious man. "But that doesn't mean that it won't change. There will come a time that you will see me kill but that time is still to come."

Ballog lifted his hand off the wolf's shoulder and in the same amount of time it took him to appear behind the demon, he was suddenly in the shadows beside Zoran. "As you can see, Ballog doesn't like being belittled in any way," Zoran replied, amusement clearly written on his face and easily found in his voice. "Now then, shall we move to the next room where we can discuss our plans for the next battle?"

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In the real world, several drops of water dripping on his face abruptly interrupted Ranma's slumber. Waking up in an instant, he opened his eyes just in time to see several more drops approaching him from the sky. Quickly gathering his thoughts, he rolled off the roof and landed on the grass below him as he walked into the house, barely avoiding getting wet enough to change into a girl by the sudden shower.

Upon entering, Ranma took note that neither Genma nor Nodoka were home yet. Turning to the clock hanging on the wall, he quickly noted that it was almost dinner time. He walked into the kitchen for a snack and was about to open the fridge when he saw a note stuck onto the door with a magnet.

_Your father and I will be visiting some old friends and won't be back until later tonight or if not, tomorrow morning._

The note bothered Ranma as he thought about it. After several months he had learned to wake up at even the slightest noise or any movement that occurred too close to him. With that in mind he could only assume that the note was left when they had gone out earlier and not after coming back for some reason. 'But, why would they need to say they were going to visit a friend and not just say they were gonna visit the Tendos. Damn it I hate this!' He walked back out of the kitchen and through walked towards the dojo, entering from the side door attached to the house.

He took off his red shirt, leaving him clad in his training vest, undershirt and pants, before slowly starting on a kata, gradually speeding up until he was nothing more than a blur. His mind clouded by the complications in his life, he had sped up more than he normally did and eventually achieved a speed that made it seem as though he were disappearing then reappearing elsewhere.

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On the other side of Nerima five people were gathering at a park, three coming from one direction, two from another and one coming from the direction of Ranma's house. The second group arrived first, having left for their destination earlier than the rest. The lone person arrived next and a few minutes later, the trio arrived as well. The first three who had arrived turned to look at the other two accompanying the third member of the trio. Two looked with curious looks in their eyes while the third person smiled in recognition.

"It looks like you two are coping well," said Belinda, looking at the two new arrivals. "How are you two feeling?"

"We're fine," replied the first of the two in a soft voice.

She was about the same age as Ranma, about a head shorter than Belinda and had short black hair. She had piercing emerald green eyes that seemed to say, 'you can't hide anything from me,' to whoever looked. Beside her was a taller young man with short, spiky black hair. He had soft blue eyes that held a hidden fire showing a hidden determination burning deep inside him.

"That's good. Anyway, tomorrow would be a good time for you two to take up the challenge." She paused, looking up into the darkening sky before turning to everyone. "Perhaps we should talk elsewhere before the rain starts to fall."

There were no objections as they walked out of the park, walking into a nearby café just as the rain began to fall. Taking a seat and ordering some food and drinks, Happosai began the conversation. "So tell me Belinda, what was it you called us together for? It must be important for you to call us directly instead of waiting for us."

"It has something to do with Ranma." That got their attention. "Two weeks ago he overheard me talking to myself. He asked me who Zoran was."

Four of the other five seemed to grow worried at this while Happosai remained calm. "And what did you tell him?"

"The truth of course." The other four quickly stood as they turned to Belinda with looks of outrage. Both she and Happosai remained calm, allowing them to cool off on their own, which took less than five minutes, a surprise given that one of the four was known to be short tempered. "Are you finished now?" She asked, receiving stiff, hesitant nods in reply. "As I said, I told him the truth. I told him that Zoran was an old friend of mine who betrayed our village and that because of him I had to take up this challenge." Then with a smirk she said, "It's not like I lied. I just summarized what's happened so far that's all."

The other seemed to relax at this while Happosai only gave a sagely nod, taking a puff of his pipe as their order arrived. "Well, I take it there's more then? If it wasn't important you wouldn't have called us together."

Belinda nodded. "That's true. Actually, this has something to do with what I wanted to discuss. We already know how Ranma would react to our plans. However, what if we could gain _his _help for certain? This is just a suggestion for now and I won't be implementing it unless we discuss it thoroughly."

"And how will we gain his help?" Asked the female newcomer. "Something tells me that it won't be easy."

"Nothing is ever easy where that man is concerned. So tell us then, what is this plan of yours?"

"Instead of trying to hide things from him like we are doing with Ranma, we should just tell him everything." She quickly held up a hand to stop three of them from letting out another outburst like earlier. "Hear me out first. We all know that he doesn't like things being kept from him, especially when those secrets concern him. If we tell him how serious the situation is then I'm sure he'll understand. You know just how much he cares for his friends. We can turn the tide in an instant before the fight has even begun. That or we'll have an inside man who is high up in the chain of command."

Everyone was silent after that, each one going through a different series of thoughts at the idea that Belinda had thought of. True, they would gain everything she had said but underneath that, they knew that there was a great risk if things do not go as planned. And as Happosai had put it, nothing is ever easy where Ranma is concerned. This was another one of those times even if they weren't talking about him.

"The usual then?" Asked Happosai, to which everyone nodded in return.

"Excuse me. But… what do you mean, 'the usual'?"

They all turned to the still unnamed female who had asked the question. It was her companion that replied. "When there is a big decision to make, everyone present makes a vote. If everyone agrees to it, then we go through with it. But if even one person can give a good reason as to why we shouldn't agree to the new idea, then we don't change a thing. But if someone can convince that person to change his vote by giving a good argument against his, then we make the change." The young woman gave him a strange look before he continued with, "Dad told me."

"An all or nothing vote?" She asked before her companion nodded.

"So then, do any of you have anything to say about this? Or do we go for it?"

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Later that night, Ranma was once again having a dream. This one was different however. This time, it took place in the middle of a forest. As usual, he couldn't move a muscle save for his eyes. It was late night and he could see the full moon at the edge of his vision, high above the trees providing a small amount of light. "Why?" Came a female voice from his right.

Glancing over in that direction, he saw a woman in her late twenties standing there wearing light battle armor. The woman reminded him briefly of Belinda and the sight of the weapon attached to her back did nothing to show otherwise. "Why did you call me out here after all this time?"

'Is this… Could this be the future?' Thought Ranma, the older looking Belinda, as he believed her to be, making it appear so due to her age. 'But, who is she talking to? Zoran maybe? She did say they used to be friends. But… can I really be seeing the future?'

The voice that replied was a voice that didn't recognize. It certainly wasn't Zoran in any case. "You know why I called you here." The voice was clearly male and came from his left but due to the shadow cast by the trees, he couldn't make out his face. "I'm telling you now that you better surrender. You can't win this war. We both know that."

"I know," she replied, looking downcast as she lowered her head in defeat. "But that is why I continue to fight. It may seem hopeless but all those who cannot fight have their hopes on us. We will at least put up a fight for as long as we can." She looked up from the ground and looked directly towards the shadowed man. "I know you want to help us so why?" She asked, conviction and a small amount of betrayal in her voice. "Why do you still side with the demons? No one will hate you if you come to us. Barely any of them know who you are and those few who do won't care that they once fought against you. So why? What is it you want?"

For a few minutes, there was no reply, just the sound of the wind and the leaves rustling as well as the occasional cricket rubbing its legs together. "Because," The man… No, demon, corrected Ranma mentally. "I want to protect everyone I care for."

"What are you talking about?" Snarled the woman. "How can you talk about protecting humans when you are on the side that kills them so casually? Tell me!"

Once again, the two of them stood in silence, three if you counted Ranma. Ranma could feel the tension in the air and the aura around the woman wasn't helping. His hands were shaking once more but not as badly as when he had seen Ballog earlier that day in his previous dream. 'No, not dreams. Visions. This can't be a coincidence. None of it can.'

"Well?" She barked out once more, anger slipping into her tone. "Answer me dammit!"

"… You wouldn't understand."

"Then make me understand!" She yelled back angrily, drawing her weapon and preparing to fight. "If you won't tell me then I'll force you to tell me."

"Fighting me won't change a thing Belinda." There it was. That was what finally convinced Ranma that it wasn't all just a coincidence. "We've fought countless times in the past and you have yet to defeat me. What makes you think you can beat me now?"

"It doesn't matter that I lost to you in the past," was her sharp reply. "I don't lose. Not when it counts. And this is a time when I certainly cannot afford to lose."

The demon let out an exasperated sighed as he stepped forward. Unfortunately for Ranma, the clouds moved in front of the moon just as he stepped forward, keeping his face hidden from him once more. "Fine. Let's see if you've gotten better."

The ensuing fight was one that Ranma would never forget. Both fighters moved much more smoothly than he could ever hope. Their speed and resilience were both impressive and their strength was simply unbelievable. And yet not a single scratch appeared on the trunks of the trees or the branches. Neither of them ever fell on their backs or was caught unaware by the other. Both recovered from the hits after being sent flying long before they hit anything else.

He didn't know how long they were fighting but one solid punch that went broke through the other's guard was all it took to end the fight. "Ugh… you've certainly gotten stronger."

"Of course I have. Otherwise I would be dead now," replied the demon as both he and Ranma watched Belinda struggle to stand. "I suggest you leave. They should have sent someone out to look for me by now. It wouldn't do for any of them to see you otherwise they'd kill you in an instant."

Belinda looked like she wanted to say something but decided against it. Still struggling against the pain caused by that one punch, she stood, using her weapon, still in its staff form, as a crutch. "She's still waiting for you, you know," she said, lightly gasping at the pain as she stood as upright as she could. "She keeps saying that you'll be back. Even if the reason is just to go back for her. Nobody knows whom she's talking about of course, save for a few of us. You really should you know. At least see her one more time. I… I just can't bear to see her crying like that every night."

She waited for a bit longer, obviously waiting for him to say something. In the end, she just sighed in defeat when she received no answer. "I see. So that's the way it is then?" She sighed heavily once more. "Well, I suppose there's no other way then. How about I make you a deal, right here, right now."

Whether he was interested or not, the demon didn't show it. He only raised an eyebrow in curiosity at the words. "I'm sure that you'll be attacking our base sooner or later. You've pushed us back this far after all. Whether or not you manage to beat us, I want you to take her away from there. She'll be safer with you under your protection than on our side where a demon could kill her in the middle of a battle."

"And in return?"

Belinda was obviously struggling with herself, as she said the next words. "If you do that, and promise to take care of her for as long as you both live, then I'll… I'll do whatever you want me to." Ranma watched as the demon whirled around to face Belinda, obviously shocked by what she had to offer. When Ranma turned to Belinda once more, he saw that she her head was down in defeat, or was it something else? "I don't care what you tell me to do. So long as she is alive and under your care then I'll do whatever you want me to. I'll kill everyone in your way if you want me to. I'll kill myself if I have to. Just… Just please, take her with you."

"I've seen her cry herself to sleep too many times to count," she said, her voice slowly breaking up with each word. "Each time she does, I… I can hear her crying out for you. I can't… stand watching her like that and… not be able to do anything to help ease her pain."

A teardrop. Ranma could only stare as he saw tears streaming down Belinda's face, falling down onto the forest floor in a continuous flow. Though he hadn't known her that long, Ranma knew just how hard it was for someone like her to do this. Just like he was, she was full of pride and if she had even a quarter of his pride then he knew that she didn't bow down to just anyone. Even if that person happened to be an old friend who was now her enemy. "Only you can do that. Nobody else can help ease her pain."

For the third time that night, silence dominated the conversation as even Ranma was thinking hard about the situation. He was seriously wondering whether or not the demon would take up the offer or if he would abandon whoever it was waiting for him to return. "Hn." The demon turned around once again and began to walk towards the shadows. This action obviously caught Belinda off guard. She had obviously thought that he would take her up on the offer. She slumped down to the ground in defeat as the tears flowed down her face even faster and down onto the ground as she had no reason to hold back her tears any longer.

However, just before he left the area he stopped walking and said, "You… are a fool." Belinda seemed to recoil in shock as more tears streamed down her face as she quietly muttered a soft, 'I know' just loud enough for both of them to hear as he continued to walk away.

Just before he was about to walk out of hearing range, Ranma and Belinda heard his voice once more. "Lock her up in her room by noon tomorrow. I trust you won't tell anyone I told you this." And with that, he was gone.

_END CHAPTER 7_

**Finally, I've finished this chapter with the addition two more people in the mix and two more visions with new people in it as well. Anyway, hope you liked this chapter.**

**I want your opinion on this question. I've had trouble making up new kinds of opponents for Ranma to fight in the future and I've been tempted to make this a crossover with numerous other Anime to make it easier for both me, the writer, and you, the reader. For me, I don't have to keep thinking up of different kinds of opponents for Ranma and for you, if you know the anime they come from, you won't have to memorize too many new names and how they fight. **

**Well, what do you think? Should I go for it or should I keep it strictly in the Ranmaverse? **

**Please click the 'GO' button at the bottom of the page and leave a review telling me what you think of the story and whether or not I should make this into a crossover. **

**Well, that's it for now. I'll be back with the next chapter soon. And an early Merry Christmas to you all. Enjoy the holidays!! **


	9. Arc 1 Chapter 8

Terms of Engagement

Terms of Engagement

By Overlord of Order and Overlord of Chaos

**SUMMARY: What if many of the on-goings involving Genma and Nodoka was all a hoax? What if most of what they've said was a lie? What reason could they have to lie to so many people? What does it have to do with Ranma's future?**

**Thanks for your reviews and your opinions everyone. I'm really grateful since your opinion on the crossover matter helped me decide whether or not I should go through with it.**

_**MattCauthon1: **_**You bring up a good point that if I don't make it into a crossover, I can control the characters and I won't have to be held down by the rules of another series. **

_**nantukoprime: **_**Your idea was for me to just use the characters I need and not necessarily the entire anime world where that character came from. That was the idea I thought of using when I began to think over whether I should make this a crossover or not seeing as, like the others have mentioned, it would delay the story progress by explaining things such as how they got there and such.**

_**SkyDragon2083: **_**There won't be a need for anything to be rewritten seeing as parts that would include crossover characters have yet to be written and I haven't said anything to suggest other characters yet or that there won't be any other anime characters coming into the story. **

_**Jack Bauer Reborn: **_**Introducing more characters and explaining their arrival won't be too much of a problem since I would have to do the same with the new characters I would create to be Ranma's opponents. Actually, crossing over this story would save time introducing the character to great detail and making up a back story for them, seeing as they already have one. **

_**CrisscrossAnime: **_**I've already had thoughts on what characters/anime I want in the story while writing the previous chapter and I've only chosen those that can fit into the Ranmaverse. I won't be saying what Anime those are just yet so you'll just have to wait. And I'll take into consideration what you said about putting in Yu Yu Hakusho.**

_**Sargon Dorsai: **_**True, there are and will be many fighters in this story with many different skills but just how far can a normal human go? As I said, I've been having trouble coming up with new kinds of opponents for Ranma. Demons are easier since they are demons. But as far as humans go it's not really very easy. Different fighting styles just won't be enough. I'm sure you've noticed that I've trying to give Ranma a hard time and having opponents with similar abilities, using only martial arts and chi, will get boring and I didn't really feel like taking ideas from other Anime and just the idea.**

_**Gangsta Spanksta: **_**I'm not really going into a crossover **_**just**_** for opponents for Ranma to fight. I agree that too many fight scenes can really make a fic look uninteresting. Sorry though but you'll have to bear with me a bit here since there will be another fight in this chapter. Anyway, the background of a character isn't the only problem for me but how they will be fighting. I'm trying to pull in characters from other Anime to give Ranma a challenge since I don't really want to use an idea from another Anime without having a respective character using it as well. And, your advice at the end of your review was mainly the reason why I even thought of making this into a crossover, just as I said at the end of the previous chapter. Still, thanks for the advice.**

_**runnerz:**_** I'm NOT going to throw in Sailor Moon. My reason? I never really liked it. Don't know why but I never really enjoyed it so I never watched it asides from a couple of episodes when I had absolutely nothing to do. Sorry if you really wanted it. Anyway, there are already a lot of them out there just the same.**

**Well, taking into consideration the pros and cons of everything that I've been told in reviews, PM's and actually even some e-mails, I've decided to make this fic a crossover. For those who didn't want this to be a crossover, maybe I should explain. As I said above, coming up with opponents for Ranma is hard when I want them to be different from each other. By making this into a crossover I won't have to keep making new kinds of opponents for Ranma. These opponents of course will be important characters as well. If they weren't then I won't need to bother making a background story for them that's as detailed as the important characters. And as I said in the last chapter, this makes it easier for you so you won't have to keep track of which character is which especially if you already know the character and the Anime they come from. **

**For those who didn't want me to make this a crossover, I hope you understand my reasoning. **

**Anyway, here's the eighth chapter for you all along with the first appearance of a crossover. I'm sure you'll find out what anime they're from and who they are along the way.**

_Arc 1: Mysteries_

_Chapter 8: Discussions with the Ice Queen and Round Two_

It was already mid-morning by the time Ranma woke up from his most recent dream. He didn't know what to make of it now that he was awake. Every word that Belinda had said at the end was filled with emotion and yet the demon spoke as though he couldn't care less what happened to whoever it was Belinda was talking about. He took a quick shower and walked downstairs to find that his parent's hadn't gotten back from wherever they went to the day before.

He fixed himself a quick breakfast before he left the house and began to walk towards the Tendo Dojo. It was a Sunday and because of an agreement with Nabiki, he had agreed to a photoshoot every Sunday until he could pay off his debt to her. Today was no different and fortunately for him, Akane often went out with her friends on Sundays, thus allowing Ranma to avoid the short-tempered girl.

As he walked through the streets of Nerima, Ranma couldn't help but feel like something was missing. It was only when he came across the empty lot where he often fought did he realize what was missing. Fights. 'Now that I think of it I haven't seen Ryoga since that last fight we had. In fact, the only guy I've fought lately is Kuno but he's not much of a challenge.' Kicking a pebble as he walked, he continued to look back on the past two weeks. 'The last real fight I had was against Belinda. I wonder what happened to Ryoga? Usually he's back from who-knows-where yelling at me for something I didn't do.'

He arrived sooner than he had thought and let himself in, greeting Kasumi as he passed her. He walked upstairs, paused to knock on Nabiki's door and entered after she had called him in. "So," Ranma began as he entered the room. "What kind am I posing for this time?"

"Nothing," came the swift reply. Looking at Nabiki, Ranma noticed that she was once again typing away at her computer. "I still haven't found a thing on Belinda but that's not why I want to talk to you. Could you wait for me downstairs? Just give me a few minute to change and I'll be right down."

Knowing better than to question the Ice Queen, Ranma only gave a nod before turning around and leaving. Five minutes later Nabiki came down and motioned for Ranma to go with her as she walked towards the front door, calling to Kasumi that she won't be home for lunch. "So Ranma," she began as they left the Tendo Dojo. "What do you think about the situation now?"

Ranma reply was an intelligent, "Eh?"

"What I mean is, how do you feel about it now? Do you still think that something's wrong with the situation or do you think that there's nothing wrong and that it was all just a coincidence?"

Ranma didn't hesitate in shaking his head from side to side, relaying his answer to the Ice Queen. "It's just… too perfect. Everything seemed to happen just at the right moment as if it was all planned. Then there are the two conversations I overheard, the…"

"Wait," Nabiki stopped him abruptly, stopping to turn to face him. "Did you say, the 'two' conversations you overheard?"

It was then that Ranma realized his mistake as he remembered that he had only told Nabiki about the conversation he heard between his parents and Ukyo and not the one between the three girls and Happosai. She shut her eyes in concentration for a bit before telling him to continue what he was saying earlier. "I overheard another one yesterday and then I had a talk with Belinda afterwards."

"Another one?" This certainly picked up Nabiki's curiosity. "Who was involved this time?" As they continued to walk, Ranma explained what happened to him the previous afternoon, relaying his worries regarding the spell he overheard his parents talking about that they would place on Mr. Tendo. He then told her about his conversation with Belinda, telling her exactly what it was Belinda had told him. "You're right about things getting too suspicious. We know you'll be receiving your heritage within a year but now we learn that it was sealed off when you were younger. And then Belinda just told you that other people out there know about your battle with Saffron. But still… Something's still missing from all of this."

Ranma turned away, slowly so as to look like he was looking around. Unfortunately for him, Nabiki still caught the look on his face. "Alright Ranma," she sighed. "You're keeping something from me so spill. By the look on your face I can tell that it's something pretty big."

Ranma sighed as well, knowing that it would be useless hiding something from Nabiki. Taking a deep breath he explained to Nabiki the dreams he had been having. He didn't go into detail about any of them except for the one he had just last night seeing as it involved someone they knew. "So you think you may have seen the future?" Ranma nodded. "Well, that's certainly interesting to know. A war between the humans and demons/" She stopped talking for a moment before continuing. "Tell me Ranma, if that war were to happen, which side would you be on?"

"On this side of course," he burst out as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Why the hell would I help the demons?"

"Even if you come from a family of demons?"

That sudden question caught him off guard, causing him to freeze in place. "Wh-What?"

Nabiki took a deep breath as she began to explain her theory. "Think about it Ranma. We don't know many people who can cast spells then suddenly you find out that my dad's under a spell, one that your parents are responsible for. Your parents 'sealed' away your heritage," she paused for a moment before saying that last sentence, placing emphasize on the word sealed.

"If you can connect the use of magic and the word sealed, it's possible to come to the conclusion that your heritage is magical in nature," she continued. "You're having dreams about demons from the future, or the past seeing as it is possible that the woman you saw was an ancestor of Belinda who has the same name. It's also possible that you're seeing a bit of both. We don't really know anyone who knows a lot about magic asides from Cologne. What if your parents were demons Ranma? Would you still fight on this side?"

Ranma opened his mouth to answer once again but found that he couldn't seem to give an answer. He tried again but something inside him was holding him back. 'Why?' He asked himself. 'Why can't I answer?'

Then as though to answer his questions, Ranma saw a brief memory appear in his head. Or rather, a brief review of his past. He remembered numerous accounts of countless people mistreating him as a child, abusing him as he called out to his father who wasn't anywhere to be seen. He saw memories of people who were afraid of his strength and his abilities as a high-caliber martial artist.

There were those who laughed at him whenever he failed to do something, people who accused him of being a freak and/or a pervert due to his curse. People who blamed him when it was either an accident or he was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. All those memories made Ranma's blood boil until Nabiki shook him out of his thoughts. "…ight Ranma?"

"Huh?" Ranma turned to face Nabiki who was giving him a slightly concerned look. "What didja say Nabiki?"

Nabiki sighed as they continued walking once again. "I asked if you were alright. You just went quiet all of a sudden so I was wondering what was wrong."

"Sorry," he said. "I was just thinking about what you said. I mean, if I am a demon then why would my parents want me growing up here? I mean, why not just stay with the other demons."

"I can't really answer that. Only your parents know the answer but I doubt they'll tell you until you do receive whatever that heritage they were talking about. But don't forget, just because your heritage is possibly magic in nature doesn't mean that you are a demon. We just have to consider the possibility. It didn't take much to learn that whenever you're concerned, almost anything can happen."

The pair continued to walk in silence, walking around Nerima until they came across café that Belinda and the others were in just the day before. Ranma leaned towards Nabiki as she led them in and said, "Uh… I don't really have much on me now Nabiki."

"Don't worry Ranma, it's my treat this time. We're here to meet someone who'll be able to answer your questions." Taking a seat in the corner of the room, both of them placed their order.

Waiting for the waitress to walk away, Ranma then turned to Nabiki with a serious expression on his face. "Alright Nabiki, what's going on?" Nabiki gave him a puzzled look at this. "What's with all of this? I mean, I can understand you wanting to find out more about the three of them but you treating me out like this isn't like you. What's really going on Nabiki?"

Nabiki sighed heavily but didn't respond as the waitress returned with the drinks they ordered. Taking a sip from her iced tea, she set it down and turned to Ranma. "Let's wait a bit longer Ranma. When my friend comes you'll have the answers to your questions and maybe even more."

The martial artist wanted to say something against it but knew that it was pointless to argue with the middle Tendo daughter. The pair sat in that café in silence for what seemed, to Ranma, like hours. Just as he was about to ask how much longer they were going to wait, someone entered the café. Turning around to see who it was, Ranma's jaw nearly dropped to the ground as he shot up from his chair to face the newcomer. Or rather, the two newcomers. "YOU TWO?!"

**REVIEWREVIEWREVIEWREVIEWREVIEW**

"I don't believe it!" Exclaimed a still shocked martial artist as he and Nabiki walked back towards the Tendo Dojo after having spent well over an hour talking with her contacts. "So they're really planning on attacking us then?"

"That's what they said."

"But how do we know we can trust them?"

"I trust them Ranma. I'd know if they were lying or not even if I didn't trust them. Either way, at least we know that some of what you saw was the future. Unfortunately just knowing that we will have a war between two races won't be enough. I mean, how many people will actually believe us if we tried to warn them?"

Ranma didn't say anything on that subject, already knowing just how true Nabiki's words were. If most people wouldn't believe what the martial artists of Nerima are capable of, then how much more unbelievable would demons be? "Still. Isn't there some way we can get ready for this?"

"I'm not really sure," she replied, looking somewhat downcast at that point. "I'll try to think of someway but I can't give you any guarantees."

He only nodded in return as they approached the Tendo Dojo. As they got closer, Ranma couldn't help but feel as though something were about to happen. 'Knowing my luck another fiancées here or something like that.' Then remembering something his thoughts quickly changed. 'Or maybe it's the next challenger. I wonder who it'll be?'

Walking into the Tendo household and spotting two pairs of strange looking sandals with the other shoes, strange in a way that it seemed more like open toed boots, both Ranma and Nabiki knew that they had guests, although they weren't sure of the reason for the visit. Walking into the family room, they noticed two people sitting there with Happosai across the table from them. Had they been in the café the day before, they would have known that those two were the two who had gone with Happosai and Belinda to the café.

One was a girl with short black hair with two chin length portions of hair framing the side of her face and emerald green eyes while the other was a boy with short spiky black hair and blue eyes. Happosai turned to face them as soon as they entered the room, nodding to Nabiki as he turned to Ranma. "Ah, Ranma, perfect timing. It seems that your next two opponents have arrived. The young lad's name is Keiji and the young lady's name is Kotoko." He turned back to face the couple across him and introduced their opponent. "This is Ranma, he will be your final opponent."

"Him?" The young man, Keiji, turned to face Ranma, looking him over. "I expected someone older. I mean, no offense, but isn't he a bit too young to be able to surpass a Grandmaster?"

"Weren't you the one telling me not to underestimate our opponent Keiji?" Kotoko asked her companion, giving him a pointed look as he gave her a sheepish grin. "Still, I have to admit. I certainly didn't expect someone so young."

"He may be young but Ranma has what it takes to be the next grandmaster of my school," said Happosai, standing up from the table, an action that was mimicked by the couple. "Well then Ranma, shall we?"

"Might as well. I haven't had a fight in two weeks so this should be good." Ranma cracked his knuckles as he walked out, followed by Happosai, Keiji and Kotoko. "Wait, I thought pops was supposed to fight them first?"

"Well, your parents have gone to visit a friend of theirs so I filled in for him," replied Happosai who was walking alongside Ranma. "I'll warn you now Ranma. These two have quite a unique way of fighting. I'm sure you already know that we use Chi or life energy. Do you remember the demons you've faced before?" Ranma nodded. "Have you ever noticed that they have a different kind of energy?" Another nod. "Well, demons use youki or demon energy. These two, unfortunately, use a different kind of energy altogether. I can't really identify it for you so you'll just have to be cautious."

"Why the heck are ya telling me this old man?" Asked Ranma, giving Happosai a suspicious look out of the corner of his eye.

"Well, to tell you the truth these two are very capable fighters and if you're not careful you might find yourself losing early on. I'm just trying to even out the odds." He nodded gratefully to which Happosai did the same as they finally arrived at the empty lot where they would be having their fight. The quartet stopped at the edge of the lot where Happosai turned to face the three of them. "Now then, who will fight first?"

The pigtailed martial artist watched as Kotoko stepped forward, "I'll fight first if it's alright with you." Ranma nodded as he turned to face Happosai.

"Very well then. The conditions for victory are these. For Kotoko, you must defeat Ranma, a task easier said than done. For Ranma, you must defeat Kotoko with a Chi-based attack of any sort. Is that understood?"

Both fighters nodded as they walked out onto the lot and dropping into a stance. Kotoko dropped into a stance that Ranma was unfamiliar with. Her right leg was bent at the knee beneath her as her leg formed a 90 degree angle while her left leg was stretched out a bit more in front of her, knee slightly bent. Her right hand was at waist level palms down while her other arm was extended towards her front at shoulder level, her palm facing Ranma. 'That's a strange stance,' he noted as he examined the stance she was in. 'Not a bad stance though.'

Happosai didn't need to say a word before they both suddenly rushed at each other, both preparing to test their opponent's defense. Kotoko was the first to strike as she delivered a palm strike aimed towards Ranma's chest. He was about to block it when he noticed something strange. Rolling to his left he avoided the strike as he thought about what he saw. "What was that?" He asked himself quietly. "Her hand was charged with something. Was it the one the old man was telling me about? That strange energy?"

Unfortunately, he didn't have time to ponder this as Kotoko rushed at him again, sending numerous palm strikes aimed for different parts of his body. Once again, Ranma dodged the palm strikes, not wanting to test just what would happen if he were to be hit even once. Too bad for him that Kotoko managed to get a hit in, striking his left shoulder. 'Huh?' Something confused Ranma greatly as he moved away before she could deliver a follow-up attack. "That was… weak." He deadpanned but was honestly confused by this.

"Really?" Asked Kotoko in mock confusion as she looked at Ranma or rather his arm. "From what I can see it worked pretty well."

"You mean stopping the flow of energy to my arm?" He asked in return to which Kotoko simply smirked in response. Ranma reached over to his left shoulder with his right hand and pressed a few points on it before returning to a stance, causing Kotoko to gape slightly at this. "You're not the first one to try that but I have to admit, that got me by surprise. Instead of just aiming for pressure points with your fingers you release a burst of whatever energy you're using when you make contact. Even if the attack is weak you can easily cause internal damage if you put the right amount of energy into the attack."

Kotoko was silent for a moment before she shook herself out of her stupor, dropping into the same stance once again. "I'm surprised you managed to figure that out after being hit just once. The style I use is known as the Gentle Fist."

"But I'm guessing that not everyone who uses it hits that soft right?" She nodded. "Well, maybe I'll try it for myself."

Kotoko watched with slight confusion and a bit of amusement as Ranma copied her stance perfectly. Everything about it was exactly the same as hers, including the slight deviation from the original stance that purposely left a small opening for her opponent to target, making him or her easily predictable if he or she noticed it. Deciding to see if he was serious about using the Jyuuken, Kotoko rushed at Ranma getting within range in two seconds before delivering a palm strike to the chest.

As expected Ranma avoided it and she was prepared to avoid his counterattack, fully expecting him to attack her in the same manner. What she didn't expect however was for him to grab her by the wrist, lift her off from the ground, slam her down on her back and _then _deliver a palm strike aimed towards her shoulder. Having been trained by her father from a young age she was used to being hit by a user of the Jyuuken. Too bad for her that Ranma didn't know just how much energy to put into the attack and when it connected not only was her right arm disabled but there was enough energy that went through and created a small crater on the ground beneath her shoulder.

She was grateful that there were no vital areas near the shoulder as she felt Ranma's Chi attack affect more than just where he hit. Ranma quickly jumped away as she attempted to hit him with her left palm. "Oops," he said, grinning sheepishly as she got up from the ground. "I guess I'm not cut out for that."

'No, that was a good start.' She wanted to say but didn't want him doing that again anytime soon due to her encouragement. 'No wonder they want us to fight him. He managed to see the technique after seeing it just once. Although I wonder. Did he know exactly where to strike or did he just follow my example? And what was that energy he used? It's different from what we use.'

She had no time to ponder over this as she used a burst of energy to allow her use of her arm once more just as Ranma rushed forward. She jumped back as Ranma leapt into the air, aiming a punch that would have hit her head on had she not moved out of the way. The punch hit the ground, causing it to explode and send dust flying everywhere. She shielded her face from the dust and the few rocks that was sent flying, getting hit a few times in numerous places.

Just before the dust cleared she spun around and caught Ranma's foot before it hit her from behind. Pushing his leg aside she lunged forward and struck him in the chest with her palm. She had fully expected him to start coughing up blood so was surprised when he didn't seem at all affected. Instead, he seemed to be grinning as he looked up at her.

Before the dust had even cleared from their view, Happosai and Keiji heard another explosion from within the dust cloud as they saw Kotoko suddenly fly out of the dust cloud, smashing into ground rather painfully. When the dust cloud cleared they saw Ranma standing there with a victorious smirk on his face. "When did you manage to learn that?" Happosai asked Ranma, clearly knowing what he had done.

"Come on, ya know me." That seemed to satisfy his curiosity as he shook his head in disbelief. "So, how was it?"

"That was pretty good Ranma, although you still haven't knocked her out."

"Wha-"

He didn't even get the chance to finish the word when he was struck from behind by Kotoko who didn't even look like she was hurt at all. That one hit was the start of countless strikes aimed at his vital points, a continuous stream of palm strikes hitting almost every part of his body. When the barrage of hits ended Kotoko smirked as she watched Ranma fall to the ground. Just as he hit the ground though, he disappeared, his body turning into golden yellow energy that dispersed into the air.

"Unbelievable." She heard Happosai breathe out in awe. "Explosion Wave and Replication in two weeks. I expected him to pick up on it soon but not this soon."

Looking around for her opponent, she spotted him several meters away, looking down at something on the ground. "How'd you manage to pull this off?" He asked her, picking up what used to be a broken table that was now splintered and in pieces. "Are you a ninja or something?" Obviously the look of surprise on her face gave him the answer as he seemed to smile. "I'm right ain't I? That's cool. I've never met a real ninja before. Well, there's Sasuke and Konatsu but they're not really all that dangerous."

His actions caught Kotoko completely off guard. Of all the things she was expecting she certainly didn't expect this. To be found out as a ninja just by seeing the table she had switched with was something she didn't expect. "You really should keep your mind on the fight though."

"Huh?" She was soon on the receiving end of a powerful blow from Ranma that caused her to double over in pain as the air left her lungs forcefully. Though she was in pain she managed to roll away from Ranma before he could follow-up on his attack. Gasping for air she recovered after a few seconds as she noted the distance between her and Ranma. She grinned, something that caused Ranma to wonder what she was going to do next. "It's over," she said quietly enough for only Ranma to hear. "You… are in my field of divination"

He watched curiously as she dropped into her stance once again only this time her left hand was tilted downwards with her palms facing the sky with her right arm raised above her head directly behind her, palms facing the sky as well with her fingertips pointed upwards. "Gentle Fist, Eight Trigrams Sixty-four Palms."

Ranma didn't have time to react as she quickly came towards him, moving faster than before. "Two strikes!" He could only watch as she struck him twice. Unlike her regular attacks however, those two actually hurt. "Four strikes!" He was hit two more times for a total of four, the strikes coming faster than the last two. "Eight strikes! Sixteen Strikes! Thirty-two strikes! Sixty-four strikes!" With each set of strikes her speed increased until Ranma could barely follow her movements during the last wave.

As the attack ended Kotoko smirked Ranma was sent flying back and onto the ground, not having been able to react on time to stop her attack. 'That should be enough,' she thought with a smug look on her face. 'Almost his whole body should be paralyzed by my attack. Both arms, his right leg and possibly several cracked or even broken ribs from all the hits he took.'

She began to walk over to his fallen form on the ground. "I told you, it's over," she began to say along the way. "There's no way you would have been able to-" She stopped abruptly as she reached the area where Ranma's body was. Or rather, where his body used to be. Instead of the body she expected to see, she was faced with a dummy wearing Ranma's shirt and pants with crudely drawn facial features. "How-"

Distracted by what happened she couldn't react on time when Ranma suddenly appeared in front of her, his sudden appearance catching her by surprise. "My turn, Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire Fist!"

'What kind of name is that?' She thought before realizing that Ranma's fist was heading towards her. Before she could react, she felt Ranma deliver countless punches all over her body. 'Unbelievable,' was her only thought as she found herself flying through the air and smashing through a nearby telephone pole that fell to the ground after losing part of it's foundation. 'How could anyone move so fast? I don't think I've seen anyone else move that fast asides from dad.' She struggled to stand, keeping a close eye on Ranma just in case.

"As much as I'm enjoying this fight I think I better end it here. I've got stuff ta do after all. Pride of the Fierce Tiger!" Gathering his chi in one hand he aimed his open palm towards Kotoko's still struggling form before releasing it. He really didn't want to hurt her but it's not like she was going to die. 'I just hope she stays down this time. I don't wanna hafta hurt her more than I hafta.'

Just as the blast was about to make contact with Kotoko, Ranma heard her yell. "Eight Trigrams, Heavenly Spin." Ranma's eyes widened in surprise as he saw what appeared to be a small dome of spinning energy appear. His chi blast hit the dome before it was deflected and sent flying up into the sky where it harmlessly dissipated. He looked back down to see Kotoko stop spinning as the spinning energy also died down. "Don't think… you've won… just yet," she said between gasps for air as she slowly began to make her way back onto the open lot. "I'll show you what I can do."

As she walked, her hands moved together, forming a strange sign that Ranma couldn't understand. She stopped just as she stepped onto the lot. "Shadow Clone Technique." Ranma jumped back as seven copies of Kotoko appeared around the real one. "Let's see what you can do against this."

All eight of them rushed forward and within seconds they were around Ranma, each one of them trying to hit Ranma with a combination of palm strikes, punches and kicks. Ranma did his best to avoid them all but there were a few glancing hits and a few direct hits. Though he could easily shrug off most hits due to his fights with Ryoga, the palm strikes were the most dangerous.

When one hit his thigh he was nearly caught by all eight of them when he found his right leg unresponsive and unmoving. He got out of that by shooting a chi blast to the ground and launching himself into the air. This in turn showed him something interesting regarding Kotoko's clones. When he saw one of the rocks hit Kotoko the clone disappeared with a puff of smoke.

Quickly jumping into the air he quickly gathered chi in his hands and shot another chi blasts down towards the seven Kotokos. Gathering the same amount of energy once again within a split second Ranma fired another with one hand followed by another from the other hand. He repeated this again and again until there were two aimed for each one of the seven. All seven produced another dome of spinning energy that deflected the blasts away from them. As they came out of their spins however, they failed to see another barrage coming at them. They were all hit by Ranma's chi blast, six of them disappearing into smoke while one was sent flying.

'Damn, that was too close,' she thought worriedly. She managed to jump away before the blast hit her but was caught in the recurring explosion, sending her flying high into the air. Her worries only grew when she saw another barrage of golden yellow orbs of chi flying towards her. 'I hope this works.' Quickly twisting her body in one direction, she suddenly spun the other direction calling out, "Mid-air Heavenly Spin!"

Had she been able to, Kotoko would have sighed in relief as she felt her improvised defense work as planned, deflecting the chi blasts away from her. Though she wasn't spinning as fast as usual and the defense did not last as long, it still served its purpose. She did not count on the landing however as she landed painfully on her back as she came out of her spin.

Ignoring the pain that racked her body, Kotoko rolled to the side just as Ranma punched the ground where her head would have been, his fist punching through several inches of dirt and creating a crater at least a meter wide. Just as she came out of her roll she saw Ranma with a palm facing her direction and a smirk on his face. Spinning quickly on her feet she began another Heavenly Spin just as Ranma went to action.

Instead of launching a chi blast at her like she expected he rushed at her and jumped up. His landing point would have been the center of Kotoko's spinning dome of energy had he not spun in mid-air himself, faint wisps of energy being released from his body as he did so and his fist cocked back as he continued to spin as he continued to fall towards Kotoko. He punched just before reaching her, his fist making contact with the dome. "Heavenly Dragon Ascension Wave!"

Happosai's eyes widened as he quickly grabbed the spiky haired youth by the wrist and pulled him away just as a powerful torrent of wind blasted through the area. The intensity of the wind grew and within seconds a large stationary tornado had formed, pulling in numerous objects that couldn't resist the pull of the wind.

Keiji's own eyes widened in surprise as he felt himself being pulled towards the twister. Only the aged Grandmaster of the Anything Goes kept him from being pulled in while he was distracted by the sudden appearance of a tornado. Both of them tried looking into the tornado but the amount of dust that was pulled in made it next to impossible to see what was inside it without getting dangerously close.

A minute or so later the winds began to die down and the pair saw two bodies fall from the air. Both Happosai and Keiji winced when they heard them hit the ground. They walked over to check on the pair only to see them both unconscious. Just as Happosai was about to declare that it was a tie, one of the two began to move, eventually standing up, walking over to the other person and waiting to see if the other would get up as well. "And the winner of the fight is…"

_END CHAPTER 8_

**Well, that's the end for this chapter. I'm sure all or a lot of you recognized where these two come from. I'll be explaining in the next chapter how they got there so there's no need to ask. Those two will be the first of many, but not too many, characters that will be appearing. I had trouble deciding which anime I should crossover with first so I just rolled a dice after assigning numbers to the anime. That way it was completely random.**

**Here's something to keep you guys busy while waiting for the next chapter. Of the two characters I just introduced, one is an OC while the other is in disguise. Can you figure out who is the OC and who is disguised as well as who the character behind the mask is?**

**Anyway, please click the 'GO' button at the bottom of the page and leave a review telling me what you think of this chapter. Thanks for reading this chapter. By the way, please don't expect an update this month seeing as it is almost Christmas after all. The next chapter should be out by early January.**

_**Preview of Chapter 9**_

"What we are about to tell you is not to leave this room"

"You can't be serious"

"You're blind?"

"Dad?"

**MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL!!**


	10. Arc 1 Chapter 9

Terms of Engagement

Terms of Engagement

By Overlord of Order and Overlord of Chaos

**SUMMARY: What if many of the on-goings involving Genma and Nodoka was all a hoax? What if most of what they've said was a lie? What reason could they have to lie to so many people? What does it have to do with Ranma's future?**

**MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL!!**

**Well, looks like I managed to update in time to give you guys this chapter as my Christmas gift to you guys. I hope you like it. By the way, I'm sure you've noticed that I've added the words **_**Arc 1**_** in the chapter headings. That's to separate the different parts of the story. This will be a very long story and I'm keeping the main ideas of the story separate. **

_**Drifter950:**_** Sorry, but Ranma won't be having a relationship in this fic. **

_**Gangsta Spanksta:**_** Thanks for telling me about that error. I have to admit though, it is funny thinking about what that would look like. **

**Well, here's the result of the previous fight.**

_Arc 1: Mysteries_

_Chapter 9: Secrets Revealed_

"And the winner of the fight is-"

"Wait." The three people who were standing around the fallen body looked down towards the one that spoke. "I'm… not… done… just yet"

Happosai could only smile at the resilience and determination that Ranma was showing as he struggled to stand despite the obvious pain he was in. He looked towards Kotoko who could only stare as her opponent struggled to stand. When Ranma finally stood he was still shaky. He was hunched down and his arms hung loosely by his side, facing the ground. All three of them waited for whatever Ranma planned to say or do next. Nothing came however.

Walking underneath Ranma and looking up Happosai facefaulted as he saw the state Ranma was in. "He- he's asleep!" His exclamation caused the other two to sweatdrop as Happosai recovered from his surprise. "Well, looks like the winner of this fight is obvious. Congratulations on your victory- eh?" Happosai sweatdropped upon seeing that Kotoko had lost consciousness and was being supported by the spiky haired youth. "Well this is certainly unexpected. It looks like the fight ends in a draw then. Mind carrying Ranma as well?"

Keiji nodded as he picked up Ranma and slung his body over his shoulder. Seeing that he was ready Happosai then proceeded to lead Keiji through the streets of Nerima. "Where are we going?" Keiji asked after walking for several minutes. "This isn't the way we came."

"No, it isn't." He waited for the Grandmaster to continue his statement but none ever came.

Happosai didn't bother to explain, his mind busy going through the fight, specifically the final blow delivered. While Kotoko was spinning, Ranma had done the same in mid-air. 'He entered the state of the Soul of Ice when he did. However he did forget that the Heavenly Dragon Ascension Wave is done by forming a spiral with a mixture of a trail of hot and cold chi. Because Kotoko was releasing a continuous stream of Chakra and not Chi, not only did the extra release of energy cause the tornado to become more powerful than normal but because of the two conflicting energies the power increased even more.' He sighed. 'I suppose that it's understandable why he was sucked in as well, given the fact that the increased power was unexpected.'

Keiji followed Happosai until they reached a familiar house, the one that he, Kotoko and a few others were staying at for the time being. Without knocking, Happosai let himself in and shut the door after Keiji had entered. "Just place them on the couch for now. I'll go tell the others that we're here."

He nodded as he walked into the room to his left while Happosai went to the right. Upon entering the living room his face revealed a grin as he set down his two passengers just as one of them began to wake up. A few seconds later the other residents of the house came rushing into the room as they heard an ear piercing scream followed by a loud, boisterous laugh that began almost as soon as the screaming had begun. "What's going on here?"

Kotoko stopped screaming but was still hysterical as she turned to face Belinda, who was standing at the entrance to the room. Keiji turned to face her as well but couldn't help but laugh at the situation she was in, although the volume of his laugh did die down by a bit. He had set down Kotoko on the couch and then carefully placed the unconscious Ranma on top of her, placing their body properly so as to look as though they were romantically involved with each other.

Although she woke up before the others could see, he still enjoyed the look of panic on her face. Belinda narrowed her eyes at Keiji upon seeing him and continued to glare at him for a while longer. "Hey uh… could someone help me? Please?"

Being the only one who could, Katsumi walked over to the couch and helped lift the larger body Ranma off the smaller frame of Kotoko. Standing up shakily, still tired from the earlier right, Kotoko turned to Keiji with a menacing glare. The combined glare of Belinda and Kotoko however, wasn't enough to shut him up. "What the hell was that about Keiji?" She yelled at the aforementioned person. "You know how I feel about your pranks. What if dad saw us like that huh? He probably would have thought that I was sleeping with the guy behind his back. You know how protective he gets."

While she was speaking Belinda's glare had melted and in its place was a wondering look. That look turned into a grin just as Kotoko finished speaking. "I don't think you'll have to worry about that," she said slyly. "After all, he already knows." Both she and Keiji wanted nothing more than to laugh at the panicked look on Kotoko's face. "You might as well drop the illusion before your daughter gets a heart attack."

"Illusion?" Kotoko turned to Keiji just as a puff of smoke covered him and in his place stood an older, slightly taller man in his thirties. He had spiky blonde hair and what appeared to be three whisker marks on each side of his face. "Dad? Wh-What are you doing here? I thought you said you had to stay behind?"

"Too boring," he replied like it was no big deal. "That's what assistants are for right? And besides, your brother always wanted to become Hokage after me so why not let him get a head start and experience it first-hand? Besides, Hinata's with him so I doubt anything could go wrong. At least I hope nothing goes wrong."

"That's just like you Naruto," began the dark haired girl. "Taking any chance to avoid the paperwork that comes with a job. Well, at least this time you won't have to worry about the village getting attacked. If we can stop them before they begin that is."

"That's why I'm here," replied Naruto as they all took a seat, leaving the couch to the still sleeping Ranma. "Also because I wanted to see the great Ranma Saotome that you and Happosai can't seem to stop talking about. I'm surprised though. How did he do all that without Chakra?"

"That wasn't Chakra m'boy. That was the Chi I was telling you about before," said Happosai as he began to explain the concept of Chi to the two Chakra users. "Chi is said to be part of everything that exists, as in 'life force'. It is most often translated as 'energy flow' or literally as 'air' or 'breath'. In a way it is true seeing as Chi is also found in the air we breathe. Chi is what keeps everything alive, without it, we would have died a long time ago. Just as Chi keeps us alive we also have a reserve which we use unconsciously for healing injuries and such. Like a muscle the more we use it the stronger it gets but I'm not saying you should injure yourself so that you use up your Chi reserves just to let it grow. Many have tried that and instead ended up with a slower process of healing."

"Chi has many more uses asides from healing. Say you were caught by surprise and were punched in the stomach. Once you're fully recovered that person who hit you tried the same thing again but this time you know he was aiming for your stomach, you just didn't have time to react in any way. Would you say that both punches would hurt just as much?" Kotoko nodded while Naruto seemed to think this over. "The second one would hurt less but only if you have enough Chi. Chi is less of a tool and more of an unseen ally. It is alive and simply by knowing where you will be hit, the Chi you have stored will move to help cushion the blow. Of course if you learn to harness the energy you can cushion the blow even further by focusing on the exact point of impact."

"So, how do you use it?" Asked Kotoko, now obviously interested in another source of power. "It can't be that much harder to use than Chakra right?"

"That depends. I don't have much experience with Chakra since I'm more of a Chi user myself. But from what I can gather Chakra is gathered, or molded as you say, through the use of hand seals. But exactly where does Chakra come from?"

"From the body itself," Came the answer from Naruto. "It's formed by mixing body energy, which is gathered in the cells of your body, and spiritual energy, which, like you said with Chi, increases with experience. Hand seals help gather the energy and direct it to where it is needed like your mouth or your hands. And by controlling the Chakra which you molded you can then perform the ninjutsu or genjutsu you want."

"Right. One difference is that Chi doesn't require the use of hand seals. Perhaps in your case that would make the use of Chi harder because we can summon Chi by our will alone. Our capacity to use either one increases the more we use it. While Chakra can take an elemental form Chi is simply pure energy with no special properties save for emotion. If someone recognizes the sequence of seals you are using then they can predict your next move so the use of hand seals becomes a burden. And also without what you call Chakra Control you easily use up more Chakra than necessary. The only Chi control needed is how to move it around as well as keeping our focus otherwise your attack might dissipate before it is completed."

"So you're saying that Chi is better than Chakra?"

"Not quite my dear. True, Chakra appears to have more disadvantages but Chi can become a double-edged sword. Chi can easily be focused by those who can't summon it through pure willpower with the help of an emotion. Ranma's prime focus is his confidence in his abilities. But using one emotion as a focus too much increases the chance of the user depending on that emotion too much. Akane uses anger which is why she has quite a short temper as I'm sure two of you have noticed." Belinda and Katsumi nodded. "Ryoga relies on depression which causes him to be easily depressed. And as I'm sure you've all noticed that Ranma is very confident in himself whenever he gets into a fight."

"But that's good, right?"

"Confidence leads to overconfidence, which in turns leads to underestimating your opponent or overestimating your own abilities. Thankfully Ranma is aware of this is slowly learning how to summon his Chi through willpower alone."

"I have a question." They all turned to Kotoko who proceeded to speak. "During our fight he managed to replace himself with a dummy. How'd he manage to do that if he doesn't know how to use Chakra?"

"I'm sorry, but I can't help you with that. Ranma should be able to answer that question for you. Well Ranma? Care to explain how you did that?"

Kotoko jumped away when Ranma suddenly sat up and said, "Sure."

"H-How long we're you awake?" Asked the startled girl.

"I woke up when you screamed. That hurt a lot by the way, you screaming in my ears I mean." Stretching his arms high above his head Ranma bent his neck left then right, two soft snaps heard only by him as he did so. "Anyway, it wasn't that hard really. I just pulled out the dummy from subspace and moved away from you after the first four hits."

"Subspace?"

"Something else you can do with Chi." Happosai began to explain. "Each person has a different Chi signature which makes it possible to identify the person by sensing their Chi alone. If you have a large enough Chi reserve you can create a subspace pocket to store anything in. You can access that pocket by focusing your chi on creating the doorway and reaching into any kind of opening such as your sleeve or a window. The downside is that part of your reserves is constantly being used to store the objects inside the pocket. The more objects there are the more of your Chi is used up."

"So if I keep too many things inside then there might not be enough Chi left to fight?" Happosai and Ranma nodded. "Well that sucks. I might as well just store it inside a scroll. Just a bit of Chakra to store it and a bit of blood and Chakra to get it back out"

"That's true. But I can see the advantages of using Chi instead."

"Huh? What do you mean dad?"

Naruto instead pulled out a scroll and laid it on the table. Unrolling it he bit his thumb and smeared some of the blood he drew on one of the characters on the scroll and several shuriken appeared in a puff of smoke. "Regardless of how you look at it, it takes a while to take out something from the scroll. You still have to pull out the scroll, look for the sealed object then smear some blood on it along with some Chakra. But with a subspace pocket made of Chi you can pull out an object just by reaching into your pocket."

"But, how'd he pull something that big out? And how'd he do it without me noticing?"

"I pulled it out from under my shirt," replied Ranma, reaching under his shirt to pull out another clothed dummy as he set it to sit beside him. "Not much of a companion if you ask me but it makes a pretty good replacement for a fight. As for you not noticing-"

"He moved fast" Naruto cut in. "Really fast."

That ended their current conversation regarding martial arts. Nobody said a word after that. Ranma was busy looking around the room, Kotoko was glancing every now and again in Ranma's direction, her eyes filled with questions, Naruto was doing the same except he kept his gaze on the young martial artist, Happosai was smoking his pipe, Belinda seemed to be preoccupied by her thoughts and Katsumi was just leaning on the wall watching all this go on.

"I'll go get us some drinks." Everyone nodded their thanks as Katsumi left the room, leaving the occupants of the room to their thoughts. The one thing they had in common, save for one, was that their thoughts centered on the pigtailed boy with them.

'He can't be that much older than me. How'd he get so strong? I can understand why we came to seek his help but what makes him so strong? Is he like dad? Does he want to become strong because he has someone important he wants to protect? And just how strong is he?'

'He's a good actor, I'll give him that. That or he's put the past behind him already. I'm sure Kotoko's asking the same question though. Just how strong is he? What kind of power do you have to show that nobody else has? And how did you gain that power? Was it because you have someone you wish to protect? Is that it? Or is there someone you wish to surpass?'

'You've come so far since you came to Nerima. You've passed all my tests and you still continue to surprise me up to this day. Sometimes I wonder just what you are truly capable of. Unfortunately I can't help you reach your true potential Ranma. You'll have to discover that potential and reach it on your own. But if I know one thing it's to never underestimate you.'

'Well, I can see you've gained their interest. Naruto will certainly be a good opponent for you given his nature. I only hope that this plan succeeds.'

While looking around the room, Ranma often caught sight of Kotoko looking at him whenever she thought that he wouldn't see her. Waiting for the right moment, he turned back to face her just as she did the same to him. When their eyes met Ranma opened his mouth to ask a question but instead found himself asking a different question. "You're blind?" He asked, his eyes blinking in surprise. He could have sworn she had green eyes earlier but now he saw that her eyes resembled that of a blind person's. 'Scratch that. No pupils too.'

The only reactions he received weren't from Kotoko. There was an amused look from Naruto, Belinda looked on impassively while Happosai slapped his face while muttering, "No tact. No tact at all."

"Blind?" Kotoko asked, clearly confused by this statement. "What are you talking about? I'm not blind. I can see just fine."

"Really? I mean, your eyes are discolored."

"Discolored?" She shut her eyes for a moment before she realized the meaning of his words. 'The Genjutsu, of course. Because I was knocked out I couldn't maintain the Genjutsu.' She looked towards her father who only nodded at her as though for approval. Turning back to Ranma she began her explanation. "The reason my eyes are this way is because of my family's Bloodline Limit. It's basically an ability passed down through the family."

"Really?" Ranma perked up at this, interested in hearing about the girl's special ability. "What does it do?"

"The Byakugan allows members of the Hyuuga clan a much wider range of vision and the ability to see the flow of Chakra in a person's body." Ranma opened his mouth to say something but Kotoko had already begun to explain as though knowing what he would ask. "If we can see the flow of Chakra in a person's body then by using the Jyuuken we can disable them by striking at vital areas. Although I'm sure you already understand how the Jyuuken works. Does that answer your question?"

He shook his head in reply, receiving a questioning look in return. "I was going to say that it's not much of a special ability. I mean, I can see your Chakra just fine if I focus enough and I'm sure Ryoga and Mousse know how to do it too although it's a lot easier if we close our eyes. It looks a bit different from Chi but I can see it just fine. Also, I don't need to use Chi to disable someone." To prove his point Ranma reached forward and poked her shoulder with one finger.

Almost as soon as Ranma pulled away Kotoko tried moving her arm and found it paralyzed from the point where Ranma touched her down to her fingertips. She shut her eyes and whispered, "Byakugan," and reopened her eyes. Her new appearance shocked two out of the three males in the room. The veins around her eyes were bulging out and those in her eyes were clearly visible. The dark haired girl ignored the looks she was getting and looked at her arm, gaping in surprise at what she saw. 'He didn't cut off my Chakra circulation yet I can't move my arm. Is this what Chi is capable of? That all I felt was a poke on my shoulder?'

"Not really." Kotoko looked up to meet Ranma's face as he spoke, quickly realizing that she must have spoken her thoughts out loud. "I just hit a pressure point that paralyzes your arm."

"Pressure points?"

"You mean you don't know what pressure points are?"

"I've heard of acupuncture but those need needles inserted into parts of the human body. Pressure points are new to me too," said Naruto. "It looks like this world is much more advanced in combat as well as technology." Commented Kotoko's blonde father off-handedly.

His statement, however, did not go unnoticed by Ranma. "This world? Y-Ya mean yer not from this world?"

The blonde quickly looked towards Happosai and Belinda and asked, "You mean you haven't told him yet?" Both gave him a shake of their heads.

"We were about to tell him once we got this talk of Chi and Chakra out of his system," explained the raven haired girl. "However, since you already brought the topic up there's no point in trying to ignore it." She switched her gaze from Naruto to Ranma with a look that seemed to say that she was sorry for something. "What we are about to tell you is not to leave this room."

"So, exactly what is it you're trying to tell me? What's going on? Is there gonna be some kind of worldwide threat and that yer calling everyone you can ta help in the fight? Even those from other worlds?"

All the other five people in the room, including Katsumi who just arrived with a tray of tea, were staring at Ranma, mouths agape and eyes wide open in shock. The first to recover was Happosai, having been subjected to Ranma's surprises more than once already. "You certainly have a habit of taking everybody by surprise Ranma. To answer your question, yes that is what's going on." This time it was Ranma's turn to gape and stare at him wide eyed. "To be more specific the Demi-human demons are beginning to act up. They're planning on attacking our realm in less than a year."

"Wait, Demi-human demons?"

"I'll explain this," Belinda volunteered, raising her hand for a short while before dropping it. "There are several different classification of demons. They are the Formless, Plant, Insect, Amphibious, Demi-human, Dragon and Brute, although the Brutes are sometimes called the Animal Demons. The Animal demons are further sub-classified but there are too many animals so I'll leave that to you to figure out. Each class, including the Animal demons' sub-classes, has its own leader. And I do believe, Ranma, that you already know who the future leader of the Demi-human demons is."

"Zoran."

"Correct. Although, we didn't know of this invasion until it had already begun."

"Eh? Whaddya mean by that? It sounds like you already know its coming if ya ask me."

"I'm sure you believe in Time Travel given your experiences with the Nanban mirror so it won't be too hard to believe this."

"So yer saying that they're from the future?"

"In a sense but not the way I would put it." At this Belinda, Happosai and Katsumi took a seat, the latter serving everyone tea. "It was an experimental project we devised as we were pushed back farther and farther until we were forced back to our final hideout in China. It was a risky maneuver, considering that it was the first time that science and magic were combined for any situation. The greatest scientists of various worlds working alongside the greatest mages to create our only hope while everyone else fought to keep the demons at bay."

"They came up with a prototype device and were working on a more sure fire method when the demons discovered our hideout. We were forced to use the prototype device. However seeing as it was only a prototype, only a limited number of people could be sent back at one time and it was still unstable so it could only be used once in its current state. There was also the fact that the actual bodies could not be sent back. Because it ran mainly on magic while science on provided a way to contain the power, the souls of those inside the machine would be the only ones to be sent back to their younger bodies along with their memories."

"Seeing as that was the case only the strongest among us were sent. Strangely enough, our strength, speed, stamina and even our energy reserves carried over. It's a mystery as to how that happened but you can imagine our surprise when we discovered this. We had expected to start training as soon as we arrived in order to get back to the way we were before."

"I take it something else went wrong?"

Belinda only nodded solemnly as she continued her explanation while everyone else in the room seemed to be downcast as they replayed what happened in their past. "Obviously we would lack the manpower to hold back the demons and due to the nature of the magic it took two hours before they could charge the device with the necessary amount of magic needed for the transportation. And because opening the door to the chamber of the device would apparently disrupt the flow of magic, we had to remain inside the chamber while it gathered the necessary energy. The army was barely able to hold them back when the machine finally activated. Just as the magic was about to activate we saw something that caused us great worry. On one side of the room we saw a hand passing through the walls of the machine."

"It was just a hand. What's wrong with that?"

"What's wrong is that a part of that demon's soul was sent back as well. And there being numerous demons with the ability to phase through solid objects we can't tell whether or not we should be worried. Not only that, but the demonic energy interfered with the machine that some of us failed to retain parts of our memory upon arrival. Katsumi here is one who suffered from that and I believe that Kotoko suffered from it slightly as well."

"So uh… where do I fit into all this? I mean, I don't remember anything about a war with the demons so I can't be from the future like you guys." Then, what Nabiki told him earlier caused him to stop for a moment and think. "I uh… didn't fight for the demons. Did I?"

"No, no you didn't Ranma," Happosai's words calmed the martial artist down but his next words caused him to worry. "That's because you disappeared long before the war began. I remember how it all went. You finally broke under all the stress of the engagements and your rivals and just up and left. Nobody heard from you ever since. I know, it doesn't sound like something you'd do but that's how it went. When the war began Cologne and I searched the world looking for you but to no avail. There wasn't a single thing we didn't try using to look for you but not even the Amazon's most powerful artifacts and my own searching techniques could locate you."

"We met up in Europe one day where we met Belinda here who, along with the survivors from the village she comes from, was on her way to join an alliance that was formed to fight against the demons. With help from the Amazons, Cologne and I managed to repair the Nanban mirror, which if you remember is still broken at this time. With that we traveled to numerous worlds in hopes of finding help against the demons. Naruto here is one of those people who decided to help. But in the end we were still beaten. What happened, in the end you already know."

"When Cologne and I first got back we-"

"Wait, wait, wait, wait. You mean the old ghoul was in on this the whole time?"

'Old ghoul?' Most of them mouthed to each other as they stifled their laughter while Happosai looked nonplussed at that. "Didn't I tell you yet? Cologne left to train the other Amazons in preparation for the invasion of the demons. That so called contract that I had Shampoo sign was just a ruse to give her the chance to leave. Shampoo is currently with Mousse traveling as the contract states but Cologne is back in China training the others. You must understand Ranma, we had to keep the timeline the way it was so as to keep it predictable, at least until the war began. If we knew what was going to happen then we can take precautions to make sure that nothing goes wrong. Of course, I did make sure to pressure your father into letting you go to the occasional training trip this time around to let you work off some stress."

"So pops ain't aware of this?"

Happosai shook his head from side to side at this. "No, he isn't. Although his past decision still puzzle me up to this point. It's nothing to concern yourself with but I'll be sure to inform you if I find something out." At this Happosai thought back to that day when both Genma and Soun had passed the final test before they attain the level of Master. Later that day, Genma had asked him for a personal favor with regards to the school. He understood Genma's reasoning and had thus, approved it. However, he couldn't understand what had caused Genma to conceive the idea in the first place. He refused to believe that the reason he was told was the only or true reason behind it.

Seeing that Happosai was deep in thought, Belinda once again took command of the conversation. "As you now know, you weren't involved in the war or at least there was no knowledge of you ever fighting in the war. While we were inside the chamber, waiting for it to send us back in time, we began discussing our next plan of action. Both Happosai and Cologne firmly stated that we seek you out and get your help and that we all would train you. They said that you would have swayed the battle in our favor early on when the war first began regardless of the fact that they struck all around the world all at once and that nobody was prepared for it."

"Of course, we were all skeptical of that until someone stepped forward. It was the tactical mage we had taken with us, one who specialized in fortune telling. He could easily foresee the future within two day's time. Although that didn't help as much as we had hoped. He could also see into the past and anywhere in the present, save for places that are protected by magic."

"He looked, not only into your past, but also into your lineage. He claimed that you are a descendant of several powerful seers and that whatever vision of the future you receive will always be sure to come true unless something is done to prevent it. Even then we were skeptical but Happosai and Cologne were adamant that though you never showed that ability, they didn't deem it impossible. Happosai even made a bet with us while we were waiting. He said that before you even reach the age of 18 that you would be able to force me to reveal at least one secret of my weapon. Imagine my surprise when I had to reveal all three secrets in one fight. Of course," she grinned, "That doesn't mean that you can beat me in an all out fight. You're several decades short of experience to do that."

"I'll take your word for it."

"Anyway, now you know the situation. We weren't really supposed to tell you until we were certain you would be an asset but we've seen enough proof. To tell you the truth, I was hoping that you would manage to prove yourself earlier. If what Happosai said about you is right then you would definitely benefit from training with Naruto in his world as well as traveling to another world where you can learn the Magical Arts."

"Eh? Won't that take a long time? I mean, if the demons are attacking in less than a year then won't I have enough time ta learn?"

"I believe Happosai's words were, 'What takes years to learn Ranma would most likely master in less, possibly in weeks or months. What would take him years to learn would either take decades for anyone else or is probably impossible for anyone else' I wouldn't readily agree with this line of reasoning but I understand what he's saying. We've gone over everything that's happened when the war began and we all agreed that nothing we do can change the fact that we are outnumbered at least a thousand to one. Some of the battles are hopeless and nothing we could have changed would have made any difference. But now some of us are starting out stronger than we did before and we have you to help us out. You're our trump card but you've still got a long way before you're strong enough to take whatever trump card they would have that they didn't reveal."

"But, what about everyone here? Won't it look strange that I suddenly disappear for a long time?"

"That's easily fixed." Happosai handed Ranma a yellow scroll, its color a clear sign of its age. "This, Ranma, is your next assignment in order to earn the title of Grandmaster. You must go on a training journey by yourself and learn the secret techniques of the School of Anything Goes. You can leave at any time but you must return within eights months from today and demonstrate the techniques before the deadline to complete another step towards becoming the Grandmaster."

Ranma opened up the scroll and read through the techniques. He had yet to learn everything from the first two scrolls and now he had one that contained four more techniques he had to learn. "Is eight months gonna be enough for all of it? I mean, I have ta train in two other worlds too."

"That's the best part," Naruto supplied, knowing it was his turn to explain. "We can easily go back the way I came and I can take you to the next world when the time comes. After that I can take us back here about a week before your eight months is up."

"Good. Well, I have nothing more to add here." Happosai began to walk out of the room, stopping at the entryway and turning to face Ranma once last time. "If you have any more questions then you can ask Belinda. I'll be telling Genma about your next task. That way he won't make any unexpected plans for you within the next eight months."

He nodded, watching as Happosai left and turning to the window to see him jumping away via rooftop. It was strange for him. In less than a month his life had changed drastically. Instead of all the confusion and chaos that used to go on in his life, now he was faced with an oncoming war between two races and he would supposedly be the deciding factor. "So uh… why am I the only one going? Wouldn't it be much better for all those who came back to learn what I'm going to learn?"

"Unfortunately we can't," came Belinda's reply. "The trip that sent us back to this time had some unforeseen consequences. While our reserves are already large the trip seems to be halting further growth. The four years that we've been back and my reserves have only increased by the same amount as a few months' worth of training. By that reasoning we won't be able to learn as quickly as we would like as our reserves won't grow as quickly as they normally would. And besides, most of those who came back have learned from each other already. You'll just be another one who knows how to use more than one type of energy."

"So you guys can't increase your energy anymore huh?" A shake of their heads. "Damn that sucks. But still, if you're that strong after the war then you'll still be much stronger than when you originally began. It would mean that we'll have an easier time when the invasion starts. Still, it would help if you could get stronger." Ranma's mood then changed to one of excitement. "So, when do we leave?"

"As soon as you're ready," replied Naruto. "Although Keiji might prefer if we got back soon. I've got the feeling he's regretting asking me to choose him as the replacement Hokage."

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In the village of Konoha in another world, a young man with spiky black hair let out a loud sneeze. Recovering, Keiji looked around the room and found most of the paperwork he was working on scattered around the room. "Goddammit, now I'm gonna have to organize 'em all over again. I'm gonna kill the bastard who was talking about me."

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Naruto let out a loud, unexpected sneeze. He had sneezed into his teacup, causing the tea in the cup to jump from the cup to his face and clothes because of the sudden movement. "I'm gonna kill the bastard who was talking about me," he muttered to himself as he wiped off the tea from his face and clothes. "Anyway, I'll need to prepare the technique we'll need to use to travel. Just come here when you're ready to leave."

With that, Naruto too stood and left the room, going into the house rather than outside. "Well, I've got nothing else to ask," said Ranma, standing up and stretching his arms. "Tell him I'll be back tonight by nine or so"

"How come?" Asked Kotoko, having stayed silent for so long. "It doesn't take that long to pack does it?"

"Eh, well, if I'm gonna be gone for a long time I want to say goodbye ta everyone before I go. Anyway, I'll see ya around." And with that, he too was gone.

Katsumi was silent as she stood, cleaning up the teacups and taking them into the next room, leaving Belinda and Kotoko alone in the room. "Well, we've finally told him," said Belinda, the other turning from the window to face her. "I just wonder whether or not he's ready for this. Just as your father is the most surprising ninja, he is the most surprising fighter I've ever met. Although, he has yet to witness the true horrors of war." Her face changed from one of relief to one of great worry as she said this. "He is also young, perhaps too young. I know I wasn't ready for all this. I've killed demons before but fighting a war was different from that. The sight of hundreds being slaughtered before your eyes isn't something anyone but the most coldhearted can prepare for."

"But Happosai wouldn't have wanted us to take him along if he didn't think he could handle it, right?" Asked Kotoko. "Besides, if he and dad are going back to train soon then that means that he'll be training while we're at war. I still remember when the demons attacked. It was just a few weeks after our own war ended. Even though we were in separate worlds the demon attacked us just as they attacked your world. We barely made it through and the village was close to being wiped off the map. Maybe this time we won't be so close to defeat now that Ranma will be there to help."

"That's true. But it's strange that he would praise his accomplishments so much. To say that he could learn techniques in a fraction of the time that others would take."

"Well, he did say something earlier during our fight." With a nod from Belinda to go on, she did so. "He said that he had expected Ranma to learn the two techniques he showed earlier soon, but not this soon. Maybe he really is as great as he says if he surprises Happosai that much."

"Perhaps. What were those two techniques he displayed? I'm sure that with your Byakugan you saw the techniques he used."

She nodded and recalled the memory of the fight from earlier. "He showed me a few but I'm not sure how many he learned between when you fought him then me. Explosion Wave and Replication according to Happosai. Explosion Wave is just what it is. He expelled a lot of Chi, since that's what he uses, in all directions and blew me away. Replication is just like the Shadow Clone Technique. Although the replication didn't disappear as soon as it was hit. It's either it lives for a set period of time or he can dispel it at any time or until it takes a certain amount of damage. We'll have to ask him or Happosai. He also used an attack that looked like a golden ball a few feet wide that exploded when it hit something. Then at the end he used a technique that created a tornado."

"Ranma…" Belinda softly whispered his name, turning to look out of the window towards the setting sun. "Perhaps you will change the tide of the battle this time around. I certainly hope you can help us as much as everyone thinks."

_END CHAPTER 9_

_END ARC 1_

**Well, this is the end of this chapter and this arc. I hope you like it. Please click the 'GO' button at the bottom of the page and leave a review telling me what you think of this chapter. Oh, please take note that there might only be one or two other crossovers in this story, three more at the most. **

**Until next time. Keep sending me your reviews telling me what you think, whether good or bad, and I'll keep updating whenever I can.**


	11. Arc 2 Chapter 1

Terms of Engagement

Terms of Engagement

By Overlord of Order and Overlord of Chaos

**SUMMARY: What if many of the on-goings involving Genma and Nodoka was all a hoax? What if most of what they've said was a lie? What reason could they have to lie to so many people? What does it have to do with Ranma's future?**

**Hey everyone, sorry for taking so long with the update. Internet connection has been a problem lately because of the earthquake. Also we've been really busy with schoolwork so we didn't have a lot of time to write either way.**

**Alright, this chapter will be the first chapter of the second arc. As the name of the arc implies, the chapters in this arc will focus on Ranma's training with Naruto and company. **

_Arc 2: Ninja Training_

_Chapter 1: The New World_

"So this is your world. I'm starting to like it already."

"Really? How come?"

"Well for one thing it's a lot cleaner. And there are a lot of good places to train."

"Happosai was right about you Ranma. Is training all you ever think about?"

"Of course not," Ranma retorted sharply. "There's eating and sleeping too."

His blonde companion sighed and shook his head as they continued to walk through the dense forest. As they were walking, Naruto thought back to the conversation he had with Belinda shortly after Ranma had left to pack.

_FLASHBACK_

Naruto looked up from the floor of the basement upon hearing the door open. He gave Belinda a quick nod to acknowledge her presence before returning to checking the seal for any mistakes. "So," he began, seeing that Belinda didn't seem to be about to say anything. "Why did you tell him that? We all know that our reserves are increasing at almost double the normal rate."

"I plan on teaching him a lesson when he gets back. You heard about how his confidence could possibly be one of his few weaknesses. If we don't fix that soon his overconfidence will be his downfall."

"So you plan on knocking him down a peg or two if he still overestimates his abilities by the time he gets back from his journey?"

She nodded. "That and I want to see just how good he'll get after this journey of his. Is he truly as amazing as Happosai claims that he could return from this journey as strong as we will be after 8 months pass? Or is it _he_ that is overestimating Ranma's abilities?"

"Well whatever it is, Ranma will definitely turn the tides of any battle he's in." Naruto stood up and wiped the sweat off his brow as he took a seat on the chair beside Belinda. "The only reason he actually managed to knock out Kotoko earlier today was because she's still wearing the Chakra limiters I gave her."

"I suppose that's the only draw back of being your child." She sighed, tucking a few strands of her long black hair behind her ear. "Since she came back with us, her energy increases quickly when she trains but since she has one additional Chakra source she has to train almost twice as much as everyone else. If it weren't for those limiters she'd have to work twice as much as everyone else _and_ work on Chakra control for years just to be able to control all that stored energy. Even then it may not be enough."

"That's why I'm going to make sure that she trains with Ranma. In fact, I think I'll make it a challenge once he gets to a certain level."

"Well, knowing those two they won't back down. But there is something else I need to talk to you about."

Now he was curious. "What's that?"

"I'll need you to try and negotiate with your furry little problem." Belinda could feel Naruto tense up, almost as though he knew what she was planning. "There was one thing we lacked during the war that the demons had. We lacked spies. I know that you expressed how dangerous it would be to let him out when we were taking that vote yesterday but spies are a necessity in war. We didn't have this option before for certain reasons but now we do."

"Belinda you can't be serious. Do you know what I would have to do to be able to do that?"

"I know perfectly well but because of the way you two are bound it can makes things easier as well. Think about it. He gets the freedom he wants, only with limitations as to what he can do, and we get us a spy." She held up a slender hand that forestalled the oncoming argument. "I don't need an answer right now. You'll be in Konoha for a while so you can think about it while you're there. I'll need your answer before the invasion starts so I can plan accordingly. Think about it."

_END FLASHBACK_

He shook his head clear of thoughts and ducked beneath a branch as they continued to make their way back to Konoha.

Walking in front of him were Ranma and Kotoko, the former looking around attentively while the latter was trying to hold a conversation with the pigtailed martial artist. "So, how long have you been practicing Martial Arts?"

"Just about my whole life now that I think about it," he replied with no hesitation, having gotten used to telling a basic overview of his life story to various people. "Pops took me when I was a baby and began traveling around. When I was old enough to walk he began to teach me the Anything Goes. Whenever we got to a place with a dojo, he would have me learn everything I can from the dojo before we move on. I learned different kinds of meditation techniques from temples too."

"What kind of training did you do?"

"Thief training, believe it or not." The look on her face clearly pointed to the latter choice. "Pops would make a game out of it. He said that if I could steal this or that from one guy or the next then I'd get to eat. If not then I wasn't allowed to eat. If I was being chased then I had to either fight them off or run away without getting caught if I wanted to eat."

"Y-You're serious about this, aren't you?" Her right eye twitched as she stared at him in disbelief. 'What kind of man is his father?'

He nodded, ignorant to the twitch in her eye that only seemed to increase with the next few statements. "He said about two weeks back that he had paid for the stuff beforehand so that I won't get into any real trouble but I'm still not sure if I believe him. That's not even the worst though. He tied me to the back of a moving train for speed training. I had to carry him while running away from wolves and the like for strength, speed and stamina training all at once. Running and hiding from the police and such was stealth training."

As he continued to list the various activities he had done in the name of training, the twitch in Kotoko's eye got worse until her whole body twitched with every 'training method' he mentioned. Behind them, Naruto was developing a similar twitch as he too listened to Ranma's tale. 'I'm starting to wonder what would have happened if he grew up to be like his father.'

"So, how long were you and your father traveling?" Kotoko asked, not up to listening to Ranma's recounting of events due to her growing anger.

"We were traveling until I was sixteen. But even then all the trouble he caused came back for us. Now I've got an eternally lost rival, a blind rival and a delusional one, if I can even call him a rival. I mean, come on, who the hell talks like that these days. Then I've also got an uncute tomboy for a fiancée, another one who is honorbound to either kill me and pops or marry me, a trigger happy Amazon and the delusional sister of my delusional rival."

'I think we were better off trying to understand those insane training methods,' both father and daughter thought as Ranma continued to explain his life before it changed two weeks ago.

Soon the trio came up to an enormous wall with a pair of large gates guarded by two ninjas. "Halt!" One of them stated, both of them approaching the group. "State your name and reason for coming to the village of Konoha." Naruto quickly stepped in between the two pairs and upon seeing his face the two guards relaxed. "Oh, Hokage-sana, we didn't see you there. We apologize." Both ninjas bowed deeply to Naruto then to his daughter and turned to face the one they didn't recognize. "May I ask who this stranger is?"

"This is Ranma. He's a taijutsu specialist who'll be helping us in the coming war." Both ninjas nodded in acceptance and signaled for the gates to be opened. With another quick bow to Naruto and Kotoko, the trio walked into the village as the gates closed behind them. "This, Ranma, is the village of Konoha, the village hidden in the leaves. This is where you'll be training for the next few years."

"Cool. This place looks a bit like some of the older Japanese villages back home. Looks like a mix of modern and traditional settings." Then, something he heard earlier came to mind. "So, uh… everybody here knows that there's gonna be a war with the demons?"

Naruto shook his head and began to explain the current situation. "The war they were talking about is the coming war against the forces of Iwagakure and Kumogakure, the village hidden amongst the rocks and the village hidden in the clouds respectively. Things have always been bad between our village and theirs since the last war with them and now that the forces of Otogakure, hidden Sound, are no longer a threat to us all, they've declared war on us again. This is bad since we we're still mostly recovering from the war with Oto."

"So I'm gonna be helping huh?"

"More or less. It would be a good way to prepare you for the war with the demons so you can understand how war goes. It's not always which side kills the most or even the side that has the stronger soldiers that wins the war. While you're here you'll be learning how to use Chakra, how to use ninjutsu and genjutsu, and war tactics."

"I don't got any complaints but don't expect me to go killing anyone. Even if it is a war, I'm still a martial artist. We're supposed to protect the weak, not kill them."

"But you're not killing the weak," argued Kotoko. "You're protecting the civilians from the enemy ninjas. Besides, ninjas aren't weak."

"Maybe. But if I can beat them, then that must mean they're weak. Well, weaker than me at least," countered Ranma. "Once you beat them, you already know that they're weaker than you so there's no reason to go on. A martial artist doesn't kill in cold blood. A martial artist doesn't kill, period."

"Oh? So what about Saffron then?" Ranma froze up at that, Naruto stopped walking and turned around as he confronted Ranma, Kotoko giving them a confused look. "Was Saffron an exception then?"

"Of course not. But there was nothing I could do. It was either that or I let Akane and probably everyone else die."

"So you would have let him live if you could have?" Naruto was calm through all this while Ranma seemed to shift between anger and guilt.

"Of course I would've. He was just trying to help his people. Even if he did threaten us that was no reason to kill him. This is different."

"So what makes war so different then?" By this point Kotoko had tried to intervene but Naruto shot her a look that said not to interfere. Looking around, she sighed upon realizing that they were under a genjutsu so that nobody could hear or see them argue. "I'm just trying to protect the village just like all the other ninjas but that doesn't stop them from trying to kill me." Naruto took a deep calming breath and looked Ranma in the eye, his determined ones looking into guilt-filled ones. "Look, I'm not here to criticize what you did alright? You just have to understand that in war, it's you or them. To kill or be killed."

"I know."

"No, you don't, otherwise I wouldn't be telling you this. The first kill is always hard but you have to move on. Think about it this way. If you die, who will protect the ones you love? You have to keep on living for them, if not for yourself. I remember when I used to think the same way as you. But I was more along the line of afraid of killing, afraid of actually becoming the monster that everyone used to accuse me of being. For you, I think it's because of your code. Am I right?"

"More or less," he admitted but Naruto knew he was still hiding something. "It's just, they're human too. They have people waiting for them to come back from war just like we do. I don't have any problems killing a demon, especially one that's killed countless people before. The only human I might ever be able to kill is someone who I don't consider human. I just don't like killing in cold blood."

"It's alright to feel guilty after killing someone Ranma, it's what keeps us human. Trust me, it never gets easier. Actually, it gets harder to bear it. With each kill, the burden you carry only gets heavier so you should never kill unless you're prepared to bear the weight of that burden." They stood in the middle of the street in silence before Naruto shook his head. "Let's stop talking about things like this. Come on, I wanna get some ramen before I have to go back to doing all that paperwork."

Kotoko sweatdropped at the last statement as Naruto began to walk ahead of them. "Are you sure we shouldn't go straight to the Hokage tower dad?" She asked, catching up to her father with a short sprint. "I mean, knowing Keiji he probably declared war on some defenseless village or something."

"Nah, your brother's not that stupid. He wouldn't declare war on a defenseless village. He's more likely to declare war on an enemy we couldn't defeat."

"And that's supposed to make me feel better?"

"Here we are. The best ramen bar in Konoha."

"Dad, this is the _only _ramen bar in Konoha."

Ignoring Kotoko, Naruto stepped up to the bar and took a seat on one of the stools, Ranma and Kotoko mirroring his movements and sitting down as well. "Oh Naruto, you're back. Did you have a nice trip?" The young woman who spoke seemed to be a few years older than Naruto with short brown hair.

"Sure did Ayame. This is Ranma by the way. Ranma, this is Ayame. She and her old man own this stand and the restaurant a few blocks over. I'll have the usual."

"Same here. What about you Ranma?"

"Uh… I didn't really bring any money with me."

"Oh don't you know? Dad's the Hokage. He'll pay for it."

"About that," he started, reaching back to tug on his pigtail. "You guys keep sayin' that. Just what _is_ a Hokage anyway?"

Ayame seemed to freeze at that as she quickly spun around to face Ranma. "You don't know what the Hokage is?" A quick shake of his head. "The Hokage's basically the leader of Konoha and the strongest ninja in the entire village. How could you not know that?"

Before Ranma could come up with a good explanation Naruto answered for him. "The place Ranma comes from is different from any other place you find around here. They don't have any ninjas as strong as ours but there are numerous taijutsu masters there that could put up a good fight. Anyway, just order what you want and I'll pay for it."

Ranma gave him a look that said, 'are you sure about that?' and remembered that Naruto didn't know anything about his eating habits. With a grin he said, "I'll have one of each then" Once again Ranma was on the receiving end of looks of disbelief coming from the three people around him. "What?" He asked innocently.

"That's 30 bowls of ramen. Are you sure you can finish all of that?" Asked Ayame. "The only people I know who could eat that much in one sitting would be Naruto and those from the Akimichi clan. I can understand Naruto since he has an uncontrollable ramen addiction-"

"Hey!"

"-But you, I can't really see how you can eat so much."

"Is that a challenge?"

'There he goes,' thought Naruto after hearing Ranma's last statement. 'Just as we expected. His pride is his weakness. But maybe this will work to our advantage.'

"How about this then. If you can finish all 30 bowls then you won't have to pay for your next meal here. But if you can't then…"

"Then he'll help out at the restaurant," Naruto finished for Ayame with a small grin. "How about it Ranma? If you lose then you'll have to help Ayame out by working at their restaurant."

"Fine."

30 minutes and 29 bowls of ramen later, Ranma conceded defeat as he slumped down on the table next to the half-eaten bowl of ramen. "Damn. I knew I shouldn't have eaten so much before leaving the campsite."

"Looks like you lose Ranma," chided Naruto as he finished off his eighth bowl and set it down. "And you know what that means."

"Yeah, yeah, just tell me when I need ta be there," he replied, waving one hand in Naruto's direction. "So, where are we going next?"

"The Hokage Tower. I'll also need to test you to see what I'll be working with so we'll be having a quick match later on. Thanks for the ramen Ayame." Leaving the payment for the ramen on the table the trio stood and left, walking towards the large structure that could be seen towering above all the other buildings. As they walked in and up to Naruto's office, the ninjas guarding the doors bowed to Naruto as they let him in without question. Inside, they saw a spiky haired youth working furiously on the towering amount of paperwork as an older, dark haired, pale eyed woman watched him work. Anyone could see just how much she was trying to hold back her laughter. "So, made any stupid mistakes lately?"

"Naruto-kun! You're back."

The woman quickly ran up to Naruto and promptly gave him a tight hug followed by a deep kiss. Ranma turned around to give them some privacy while both Keiji and Kotoko seemed to turn green at watching their parents making out right in front of them. The two of them broke apart, grinning from ear to ear as they watched their children's reactions. "Ranma, this is Hinata-chan, my wife, and that's Keiji, my son and Kotoko's twin brother." Turning to his kids he said, "What? You've never seen two people kiss before?"

"That's not the point dad," said Kotoko's twin brother. "Anyway, now that you're here you can take your job back" Keiji, almost happily, leapt from the chair and left behind piles of paperwork for Naruto to finish. "I'm starting to rethink my decision to want to be Hokage. No way I wanna sit here reading and signing papers about mission reports, mission requests and other boring stuff."

Naruto laughed out loud as he took the seat from his son, setting aside the already finished paperwork. "Well, that's life. You've got to work hard if you want something. Even then you might not get something good. Anyway, send word to all the Jounins and have them meet me at the arena in an hour. They're going to get the show of their lives."

"You just wanna show off again," accused Keiji. "By the way, who's this guy?" He asked, pointing his thumb over his shoulder towards Ranma.

"That's Ranma. He's the main reason I'm calling for this assembly. Anyway, mind taking him to the arena with you? I'll need to make sure you didn't sign any declarations of war. The last thing Konoha needs is another village for an enemy when we're about to enter a war with Iwa and Kumo." The last sentence was muttered quietly but a quick 'Hey!' From Keiji dispelled the thought that he had not been heard. Keiji grumbled as he walked out of the room, Hinata and Kotoko giggling at him while Ranma didn't know what to do. "Anyway, go on ahead and show Ranma around. Just be sure you get him to the arena in an hour."

Kotoko nodded as she grabbed Ranma by the arm and dragged him out of the office, yelling after Keiji to wait for them. "So, that's Ranma." He nodded. "Is he as good as Happosai claims?"

"I'm not sure yet. He did manage to knock out Kotoko while she was using the Heavenly Spin. Although he did knock himself out as well," He added as an afterthought after thinking back to the fight. "And, I finally managed to see the use of Chi in a fight."

"Really?" Hinata asked, intrigued that she would finally get the chance to see the use of Chi just as Happosai had told them. Although they had fought together during the war, none of them ever had the chance to truly see what their allies were capable of, just that they were very capable of fighting. "What did he do?"

Recalling the entire fight between Ranma and Kotoko, Naruto listed down the uses he'd seen. "Well, he gathered it up for some kind of energy blast. He used it to cause a wave of explosion, he made a kind of clone, he used it to make a tornado when he punched Kotoko's Heavenly Spin and he was able to store different things in a… subspace pocket I think that's what Happosai called it."

"Tell me more about the clone."

"I'm assuming that the clone had the same amount of energy as he did since Kotoko didn't notice and I doubt that her Byakugan was shut off when she was fighting." He leaned forward in his seat and propped his elbows up on the table, leaning on the back of his hand which was on top of the other. "It didn't disappear after getting hit once. Kotoko must have hit it at least twenty times, with at least three Jyuuken strike to the chest area before it disappeared. Even then it didn't disappear until just before it hit the ground."

"What about that subspace pocket you were talking about?"

"It's… amazing. It has its good and bad points but overall it's a lot better than having to seal objects into a scroll." He began explaining the use of subspace pockets the same way that Ranma and Happosai had done earlier. "I saw him pull out a dummy that he used to substitute himself with in the middle of the fight. But like I said, the more you have inside the pocket, the more Chi you continue to use."

"So when using a subspace pocket you can only use a limited amount of Chi." Naruto nodded as Hinata adopted a thoughtful look. "How much do you think Ranma's holding right now?" One question. One question was all it took to cause Naruto to stop and think about the same question as Hinata asked another. "So you don't know how strong he really is then?" He could only shake his head in reply to that but grinned when he realized he would find out soon enough.

**REVIEWREVIEWREVIEWREVIEWREVIEW**

"So, what's to do around here?"

"Depends. The civilians work and the ninjas train. Asides from that there's shopping too."

"Oh come on sis, Ranma's a guy," said Keiji, walking with his arms crossed behind his head. "He's not gonna enjoy shopping like you and all the other girls. I'm sure he'd rather go hang out with us guys."

"Look Keiji, I'm not in the mood to argue. Let's just show him around and let him decide what he wants to do for himself." Keiji agreed to that while Ranma was wondering which God found it funny to stick him between two arguing people. Walking around Konoha, Kotoko showed Ranma the different places and introduced him to various people, who looked at him due to his clothes but greeted him just the same.

Eventually they made their way to the arena with five minutes to spare. "And our last stop for the day is the arena. This is where we hold the final test for the Chuunin and Jounin exams. I don't know what dad's planning but I guess we'll find out now that we're here."

Walking into the arena, they found the Jounins waiting for Naruto to arrive. "Any idea what Naruto's got planned this time?" Looking to the side they saw a ninja leaning against the wall of the arena reading an orange book. The ninja had silver hair sticking up into the air, a mask that covered the lower half of his face and his forehead protector with the mark of Konoha tilted down to the side to cover his left eye.

"Sorry Kakashi-sensei, but I've got no idea what dad's got planned this time," dupplied Keiji. "All I know is that it's got something to do with Ranma here."

The man, Kakashi, briefly looked up from his book and looked Ranma over before nodding and turning back to his book, giggling every now and then in a way that irked Ranma. "That's Kakashi Hatake," explained Keiji as they began to walk around. "He's also known as Sharingan Kakashi, the Copy Ninja and the ninja who's copied over 1000 techniques."

"1000 techniques?" Ranma whistled. "Man, that's pretty good. But does he know how to use them?"

"Of course he does. I did just say that he copied them didn't I?"

"No Keiji, I think he's asking if he knows how to use them in a fight." Seeing the clueless look on his face, Kotoko let out an exasperated sigh and clarified it for him. "What he means is that if Kakashi knows what technique to use, when to use it and how to use it. Having a lot of techniques is useless if you just use them aimlessly. A smart Genin who only knows a handful of techniques could beat a Chuunin who knows a hundred techniques if the Genin knows how and when to use a certain technique."

"Oh, why didn't he just say that in the first place then?" She slapped her face muttering about how unfair it was for her to get a brother like him. "Well, in that case yeah, he does. I mean, I've only seen him use about nine or ten techniques since I met him and he didn't lose during those times. But then again he was mostly up against a group of Chuunins or one or two Jounin at once so I can't really say it was against tough opponents. But I've heard that he's gone against three S-class missing nins alone and survived. Don't you think that's amazing?"

He turned to face Ranma when he noticed that neither Ranma nor Kotoko were listening to him as their attention was turned to Naruto, who had just arrived alongside Hinata. Naruto was wearing the customary Hokage robes, which, in Ranma's opinion, made him look wise and all knowing. A look that didn't suit him at all, he noted with a small chuckle. "Well, I'm sure you're all wondering why I called you all here," Naruto began, addressing all the ninjas in the arena. "Do you all remember when I said that I would be leaving to look for help against Iwa and Kumo?" They all nodded. "Ranma, get over here." Complying with the request, Ranma walked up to Naruto and stood beside him. "Everyone, this is Ranma Saotome. He's a taijutsu specialist I heard about from an old friend and he's going to help us win this war."

"Well, well, this is quite a surprise," Kakashi commented lazily. "Tell us Naruto, what makes you think that a taijutsu specialist can turn the tide of battle? Besides, he's just one man."

"What if I say that he can use a different kind of energy asides from Chakra?" Silence was what met his reply as he began to explain. "Apparently Ranma and his acquaintances have learned how to harness the power of Chi, or Life Energy, and use it in a similar manner to how we use Chakra. Although I think that a demonstration would be a better way to handle this."

"So, which of these guys am I gonna be fighting?" Ranma asked with a tone of eagerness, excited at the prospect of fighting someone new. It wasn't until the fight he recently had with Belinda that he realized just how much he enjoyed fighting someone. But not just someone, it had to be someone who had an arsenal of decent and powerful techniques that could catch him by surprise. But it wasn't just that. He had missed the rush of having to fight hard in order to achieve victory. He was tired of easy victories against his three so-called rivals and the opponents he had started to go up against were giving him the thrill he had when he first started practicing martial arts.

"None of them actually," replied the Rokudaime Hokage of Konoha. He pulled away his robes and pulled off his hat, handing them to Hinata to reveal that he was in full combat gear. "I'm already sure that you could beat most of the Jounins here so I won't even bother putting you up against them. The few people who could give you a descent challenge are out of the village at the moment. Instead you'll be fighting me. That way they can see what you're capable of and I can see first hand your full capabilities. But for this fight, I want you to fight me at full power. No holding back otherwise I won't be training you at all."

Ranma only raised an eyebrow at this, wondering where Naruto was getting at. Shrugging his shoulders Ranma took off his shirt revealing a black weight vest underneath. Taking it off he dropped it beside him where it came down with a resounding crash. He held his wrists, taking hold of the bracers he wore and concentrating before relaxing and turning to Naruto. "Should I empty my pockets?"

"Your choice. But I'll warn you now that you'll need every ounce of energy you can get if you want to last long enough against me."

Grinning from ear to ear, Ranma reached into his sleeve with his hand and pulled out several objects. A katana, a long length of rope, a few meters of chains and a blindfold. Then, reaching into his shirt from the bottom opening, he pulled out a backpack- "No wonder we didn't see him carry a bag" – several small logs, two thick rolls of cloth, one red and one black, an umbrella – "Damn, I forgot to give this back to pig boy" - a photo album - "I was wondering where I put that" – and another clothed dummy.

There were comments all around, all wondering the same thing. "Where did he get all that?"

"That's one of the things he can do with Chi," Naruto clarified for everyone as Ranma continued to empty his 'pockets'. "He's basically using his energy to create a pocket dimension that only he can access. He can use it to store objects so that he wouldn't have to carry them around, much like how we seal things into scrolls. The downside is that the more things he puts in it, the more Chi is used. So if he stores too many objects he could go into a fight with only half of his Chi reserves."

Double-checking the objects he had pulled out, he turned to Naruto with an excited grin. "That's everything. Can we start already? I've been itching for another good fight for days now."

"You carry a katana but you don't use it?" Asked one of the Jounins as he looked at the assorted objects Ranma pulled out.

"I use it from time ta time but I prefer ta use my fists," answered Ranma as he turned to Naruto. Receiving a nod, he watched as Naruto jumped off the edge of the railing and down to the arena, Ranma following suit while everyone else gathered around the edge to watch the match between their Hokage and a newcomer. Looking around the arena, Ranma saw that the arena was a fairly large field with a few trees here and there and a pond about four meters wide situated near the center. "Anything goes?" He asked, already knowing the answer as he dropped into his favorite stance, meaning no stance at all.

"Anything goes," replied Naruto as he dropped into a stance of his own, drawing a kunai to fight with. 'Alright, let's see what we've got.' One quick look at Ranma's stance was all it took. 'So he's not going to take this seriously huh? Looks like Belinda was right. Simply because he thinks our reserves don't increase as fast, he suddenly thinks that energy reserves are all that matters I suppose. Well then, maybe I'll show him why I received the title of Hokage.'

It was then that Naruto made the very first mistake of fighting against Ranma, making the first move. Forming a single hand seal that many were familiar with, Naruto called out, "Shadow Clone Technique!" Creating fifteen identical clones of himself Naruto rushed forward at great speeds, appearing mere feet in front of Ranma in a split second. Striking out at the male martial artist Ranma quickly bent down at the waist to avoid most of the attack, twisting to the side and jumping away to avoid the rest. He punched a clone and kicked another before landing, two clones turning to smoke and winking out of existence. Before Naruto could prepare for another attack Ranma had already gathered enough Chi and let loose a basketball-sized Chi blast aimed at Naruto's feet.

Naruto managed to jump away as well as a few clones but most of them weren't so fortunate and was caught in the explosion, disappearing in a puff of smoke. Not giving Naruto time to recover Ranma rushed in and began to attack all five Narutos, using his speed to attack all five of them all at once. Naruto cursed himself as he realized that he had made a mistake, especially after seeing the fight between his daughter and Ranma. 'I've really done it this time. I forgot that Happosai told me that he likes to make people underestimate him or at least mad at him.' He cursed himself again as he blocked another powerful roundhouse, pumping Chakra into his legs to help him move faster to avoid Ranma's leg sweep. 'Not anymore. For real this time.'

As all five of them jumped up to avoid another leg sweep, he frowned upon seeing the grin on Ranma's face. "Didn't Happosai tell you?" He asked, jumping up to meet Naruto in the air. The shocking part was that he had found the real one. "Mid-air combat in the specialty of the Saotome School." And Ranma proved his point by mercilessly attacking Naruto, striking out at the clones when they got too close to him. Naruto fought his best but he had to admit it, in terms of hand-to-hand combat, Ranma was clearly the superior fighter between the two of them. That thought was ingrained into his mind as he landed painfully on the ground, bouncing off the ground once from the powerful impact. Landing on the ground, Ranma faced Naruto's fallen form and said, "Come on, ya ain't foolin' nobody. I didn't hit ya that hard. Or maybe yer just weak."

"Heh, I'll make you eat those words," said Naruto as pushed off the ground and turned to face Ranma once more. "Let's see how you stand up against a technique of my own creation."

"Oh boy, here we go again," Kakashi commented lazily.

Forming a hand seal different from the first, Naruto called out the name of the technique once more. "Sexy Technique." A large puff of smoke appeared, covering Naruto from everyone's view. When the smoke disappeared, in his place was a nude, busty, blonde girl, her hair put up in two pigtails, Naruto's trademark 'whiskers' on her face as well and thin wisps of smoke covering the more private body parts. She quickly ran up to Ranma and enveloped him in a hug, rubbing her nude body all over Ranma's.

Every ninja up on the stands had already seen the technique in action and knew what was coming next. "Oh well, another one bites the dust to Naruto's technique." Practically every ninja agreed with Kakashi's statement and was awaiting the fountain of blood that would follow whenever Naruto used this technique on a straight male. Except this time, there wasn't a fountain of blood. In place of it was an irritated yell coming from the martial artist.

"What the hell?! Get the hell off me!" Upon hearing this loud statement they all turned back to the arena and most of them did a double-take upon seeing Ranma trying to force the still female and still nude Naruto off of him, said person blinking at the reaction she got but kept her hold on Ranma. It took a considerable number of attempts but Ranma finally managed to push Naruto away, much to the amazement of some of the Jounins. "Why the hell are all the guys I meet perverts?!" They heard Ranma scream towards the sky as though screaming towards the Gods themselves.

"Well, well, finally a decent guy who doesn't fall prey to Naruto's stupid technique," commented the female Jounin known as Kurenai Yuuhi, Konoha's Genjutsu Mistress. "Makes me wonder though. Most boys his age would normally enjoy something like that. I wonder what makes him so different? I mean, he did call Naruto a pervert so I'm assuming he isn't ignorant of the female sex."

Almost as though hearing her and deciding to answer her question, Ranma turned to Naruto just as he turned back to his normal form. "Ha! That kind of trick won't work on me," he barked out. "I mean, come on. You ain't got anything I don't already have."

"What the heck is that supposed to mean?" Almost everyone in the arena asked, some of them yelling at him to explain.

Instead of trying to explain it Ranma jumped backwards quite a distance and landed beside the pond on the opposite side of Naruto. Checking to make sure that the water was deep enough Ranma quickly jumped into the pond, submerging until he could no longer be seen. Seconds later Ranma jumped out of the water, landing right in front of a surprised Naruto. What surprised him was the fact that he, rather she, had taken her shirt off, showing off her ample bosom, still bound by bandages, to everyone in the arena. "Wh-What the heck?"

Because of his surprise he failed to evade Ranma-chan when she came at him with a powerful, Chi powered punch that sent him flying back, smashing through the thick wall behind him. "That'll teach ya ta try that with me." She huffed, putting her shirt back on and buttoning it up properly. She reached into her sleeve and retrieved a thermos that she carried around for just an occasion. She poured some of the hot water on herself, turning her back to her male self.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!" Everyone turned their heads to see that Naruto had gotten up and seemed to be blushing a deep shade of red. "I THOUGHT YOU SAID YOU DIDN'T KNOW HOW TO USE CHAKRA!"

"That wasn't Chakra," Ranma replied calmly, carefully watching his surroundings in case the outburst was a simple ruse to catch him off guard. "Let's just call it a curse or a condition or whatever ya wanna call it. Long story short, cold water turns me into a girl and hot water turns me back ta a guy. And before you ask I was born a guy."

This caused the Jounins to start talking. None of them have ever heard of a condition like that and to see one now was causing much confusion and some suspicion. There were numerous comments such as, "Is that a Bloodline limit?", "What if the Rock has a spy just like him? How would be able to detect it if he doesn't use Chakra?", "He's lucky. I wish I could do that,", "Pervert!", "Ow."

"Alright then, you caught me by surprise that time," admitted Naruto as he began to form a series of hand seals. "But not anymore. I'll show you why I'm the most surprising ninja in Konoha." He finished the set of hand seals as he yelled out the name of the technique. "Fire release: Dragon Fire Missile!" Taking a deep breath he let it out, breathing a large flame in the shape of a dragon that headed straight for Ranma. Doing the best thing he could think of Ranma jumped into the pond once again, avoiding the dragon as it harmlessly passed over him. He surfaced and was prepared to rush at Naruto when the water suddenly wrapped around him, the contact turning him into a girl once more. "Water release: Water Prison."

She looked behind her and saw Naruto's hand inside the prison. Concentrating on feeling the energy, Ranma-chan spoke her theory. "So you have to keep contact to maintain the prison, right? It's the only reason why you'd keep your hand inside rather than stay away and pick me off from a distance."

"Looks like Happosai was right when he said you could figure out how some attacks work just by seeing them." Naruto laughed a bit, amused by the fact that for someone who had never used Chakra before, he could work out how a Chakra-based technique worked. "So, how are you gonna get out of this?"

"I'm so glad you asked." Naruto frowned when he felt Ranma-chan gathering her energy inside the prison. When he finally realized what Ranma was about to do it was too late to react. "Explosion Wave!" The Chi Ranma-chan had gathered exploded outwards, blowing the prison apart and sending Naruto flying back. Both managed to land safely without harm but both were drenched from the water sent flying by the explosion. With a quick movement, Ranma-chan pulled out the thermos and turned back into his birth form. "You may be the most surprising ninja in Kohona but back home I'm the best there is. And now it's my turn to show you why I'm the best there is."

Everyone gasped when they saw an image of Ranma separate from the real one and stand beside him. Three more came out from his body until there were two on each side of Ranma. "Replication. Much better than your Shadow Clones since they don't disappear after one hit." Rushing towards Naruto at high speed, he watched as Naruto created the same number of clones but instead of rushing forward to meet them, they spread out quickly until they surrounded the five Ranmas.

Without giving them a chance to prepare a counter, all five Narutos rushed towards their opponents. "Bad move!" Bending down towards the ground all five raised one finger up and brought it down to the ground. "Breaking Point!"

Naruto himself was taken by surprise when their fingers pierced the ground with ease and not even a second later the ground exploded outwards, the debris from the explosion hitting each and every one of the five Narutos, causing them all to disappear in a puff of smoke. Before anyone could react, another group of twenty Narutos burst out from the ground behind the first five and rushed at Ranma and his clones. Four Narutos each took one Ranma and kicked him high up into the air. Following the now airborne martial artist, they delivered Naruto's trademark attack. "Naruto Uzumaki Combo!" Five Narutos delivered the final blow to the five Ranmas, sending them plummeting to the ground. Before they hit the ground however, Naruto saw them all grin before disappearing, turning to Chi and dispersing in the air.

A bright yellow blast suddenly came flying out of five different directions, destroying Narutos clones until only the real Naruto was left. "Looks like we're back to square one." He commented lazily as Ranma appeared in front of him, his four other copies dispersing into the air like the first five. "Should we call this a draw? Or should I go on ahead and beat you?"

"Heh, I know I can't win. I mean, come on. You're not even that tired yet and I haven't had a good fight since Belinda came along so I'm a bit out of practice. But I'm not going down without a fight. Besides, I've still got a trick or two up my sleeve." Right after he said that, Ranma too disappeared, turning into Chi and dispersing into the air.

Eyes widening in surprise Naruto rolled to the side just as Ranma's fist smashed into the ground where Naruto once stood, burying his arm all the way up to the elbow before the ground exploded outwards and Ranma now stood within a large crater. Naruto lunged at Ranma while he was pulling out his arm. He threw a punch aimed at Ranma's head only for his arm to go through when this Ranma turned into Chi as well. Punching Naruto from behind, Ranma wasn't too surprised to find that it was a clone. Spinning around he brought up his arm in time to intercept Naruto's kick.

"Come on, why don't you use a different technique?" Baited Ranma as another replication came up from behind and kicked Naruto's side to send him flying. "You've used four so far, why don't you show me another. I thought you were supposed to be the strongest ninja in the village. Doesn't look like it to me. I know a pig and a duck much stronger than you."

Many Jounins up on the stadium bristled at that statement. The skills of the other ninjas are often compared to the skills of their respective Kages. By saying that the Hokage is weak is like saying that the entire village of Konoha is weak. Their frowns disappeared when they saw Naruto stand up and face Ranma, a serious look on his face. "Alright, if that's what you want then I'll show you what I'm really capable of." Ranma and the Jounins smirked, the former because the fight was starting to get more interesting and intense, and the latter because they knew what was coming and didn't expect the red-clad teenager to last any longer. Concentrating his Chakra, Naruto gathered his energy at the palm of his hands. Within a second a ball of swirling energy had formed in the hand of Naruto. "Let me introduce you to my father's legacy, the Spiraling Sphere."

Lunging towards Ranma with the sphere in hand, Naruto quickly closed the gap between the two of them and shoved the swirling orb towards Ranma's unmoving body. Dodging at the last moment, Ranma grabbed Naruto's arm and shoved the attack down to the ground, jumping away before the following explosion. When he landed on the ground he saw Naruto disappear in a puff of smoke just as two kunai came into view and crossed just below his chin, the edges of the blade millimeters away from his neck. "You've lost."

"Have I?" Ranma asked impassively as he whispered his next words. "Replication Explosion."

Everyone's eyes widened when Ranma's body glowed golden and exploded, causing an explosion much more powerful than his Explosion Wave, a large cloud of smoke covering the area from everyone's view.

"NARUTO!"

"HOKAGE-SAMA!"

"DAD!"

There were several yells, calling out to one of the fighters, checking to see if there would be a reply. The Jounins were about to jump in when a body broke through the cloud of smoke followed by another. High above their heads they saw Ranma and Naruto going at it at high speeds. Even when they had begun their descent neither one seemed to have been hit with any significant blows. Scratch that. Ranma was suddenly sent flying away from the battle, crashing into the arena walls with powerful force that buried Ranma several inches into the wall.

Seemingly unhurt, Ranma pushed off the wall just as Naruto completed the hand seals he was forming, another fire dragon smashing into the wall where he was just a split second ago. Just as he landed on the ground however a hand shot out from the ground and pulled him down. "Earth release: Inner Decapitation Technique!" Once again, Ranma escaped from the prison by causing an explosive wave with his Chi, only this time he appeared to concentrate it below him as he was launched straight up into the air.

As the fight wore on longer, the Jounins could finally understand Ranma's abilities better. He only had a few abilities as he had shown asides from his high level of taijutsu but he knew how to use them to his advantage. "How many techniques does that make so far Kakashi?" One of the Jounins asked the person behind him.

"Let's see, there's Replication, Explosion Wave, an energy blast, Replication Explosion and Breaking Point," Kakashi dictated, the forehead protector around his eye pushed up to reveal a blood red eye with three tomoes spinning around the pupil. "Although, his Replication technique is what interests me the most. Replication is like an advanced clone that can actually take a beating and from what I've seen all the kid has to do is send his energy to wherever he wants to make the clone."

"Also," Kotoko began, her Byakugan active as the veins around her eyes and the veins in her eyes were visible once again. "Unlike the Shadow Clone the energies of Ranma's replications are linked to each other instead of being divided among them. Whenever one replication uses up energy, I can see an equal amount of drain on all the others. Whoever created that clone is good. It's impossible to actually detect the real one. It's like a mix of an ordinary clone and an extra powerful shadow clone. It's not an illusion, but it was made to look like one. "

"You're wrong," said Kakashi, narrowing his eyes as he watched the five-on-five battle going on below them, one that quickly turned back into a one-on-one battle. "If you look closely, whenever one of the replications gets hit by an attack you don't get a reaction from it but instead, the real one feels the pain."

"So you mean-"

"That's right. It's not easy to spot especially if your opponent has a high tolerance for pain and is good at hiding it but hitting the replication is just like hitting the real thing. Four replications, one real fighter, all five getting hit at the same time equals to five times the pain."

"Nah, not really." Most of them jumped and some nearly fell over the railing when they heard the voice speak. Turning around they saw three Ranmas, or rather three replication, standing there watching the fight from above. Only one was talking while the other two seemed to be asleep. "It actually divides the pain equally so it just feels like I'm getting hit by only one person when we're all hit at the same time. And, I can speak with my real self and the other replications mentally." Looking back down to the arena, the replication grinned as he saw that they were once again standing one-on-one.

"Looks like we greatly underestimated you," said Kakashi as he watched Naruto once again began to bombard Ranma with numerous techniques that forced Ranma back on the defensive. "By dividing yourself into four you only feel a quarter of the pain. But I'm guessing that there's a downside to all this."

"There's always a price to pay," commented the replication. "Just like the subspace pocket, so long as there's a clone out a tiny part of my Chi is being used to maintain them and an even smaller portion is used to create one. But also, it gets confusing when so many different inputs come in from the replications. It's like a bunch of people yelling into my head so I try not to make too many at the same time. If I do, I have to tell them to keep their mind clear whenever they can. The good points outweigh the bad points by just a little bit so it's a good technique to use."

"So you've got mental links and higher pain tolerance weighing against little comfort and less energy. Not too bad a deal if you can get the right balance. You do know that you don't stand a chance against Naruto right? He isn't even showing a quarter of what he's capable of. Then again he could be showing much less than I think he is."

"I know. I figured as much even before the fight began but like I said earlier, I'm not going down without a fight. Besides, I still have one last trick up my sleeve."

Back to the fight, Ranma was pumping as much Chi as he could to every part of his body, using the aid he receives to avoid all of Naruto's lightning fast attacks. Already he could feel that his Chi reserves were getting low and that he needed to pull of something that could catch Naruto by surprise. Therein lay the problem. Both he and Naruto were fast learners, as he had quickly noticed, something he knew that Naruto noticed as well. The same trick wouldn't work twice unless they were really out of it. Recalling his Chi from the other three clones, he hoped that he could last long enough to pull of one more trick.

"What's wrong Ranma?" Naruto asked, his tone seeming feral as Ranma finally took note that Naruto's canines seemed slightly longer, a brief image of Ryoga and his 'fangs' flashing in front of him briefly. The whisker marks on his cheeks were thicker and more defined and his eyes had turned blood red. "I thought you wanted me to show you what I can do. What happened to all that spirit?"

Ranma didn't reply and instead concentrated on dodging Naruto's attacks. 'I've got to hang on,' he thought desperately. 'It's my only shot. I can't hope to win but maybe I can win. After all, the old perv did say that luck is a part of strength. Maybe my luck will finally pull through after so many years of bad luck.'

"Well? Aren't you going to fight back? Or are you already giving up? Maybe Happosai was wrong about you being one of the strongest people alive."

It took all of Ranma's willpower not to be baited by that taunt and break his focus. For the technique he was about to do, he needed to keep his emotions in check. 'Besides,' he thought. 'If I let him bait me like that then I've fallen for my own trick.'

Up on the stands, Kotoko was confused. "I don't understand this," she whispered quietly but not quietly enough as two people heard her. "Why is Ranma running around in a circle?"

"No, not a circle."

"Uncle Neji?" She gasped out in surprise, mainly because she didn't see him even with the near three hundred sixty degree vision her Byakugan offered her. "When did you get back? And what do you mean it's not a circle?"

The older Hyuuga standing behind her watched the fight with fascination. He had long black hair that reached down to his back, his Byakugan active as well as he observed the fight. "Just now actually. I went to the Hokage Tower to report only to find out that all the Jounins were called to the arena. I don't know what's going on either but to answer your question, it's not a circle. If you look closely you'll see that the area he is moving around in is getting smaller. It's not a circle, but rather a spiral. A perfect spiral, amazing considering he's facing Naruto and moving backwards."

"A spiral? But, what would that do?"

"I've got no idea. Now would someone please explain what's going on?" Neji listened intently as Kotoko explained how she and Naruto had gone off to search for someone that a friend of Naruto had talked about, that someone being Ranma. She had also explained how this fight would be a test of Ranma's abilities. She also gave him a brief description of each of Ranma's abilities that he had shown so far. "So, Naruto expects this boy, Ranma, to help us win the war? That's certainly interesting. To be able to get Naruto to use _his _Chakra, even just a tiny part like now, this boy must be something. And you say he doesn't use Chakra but something called Chi?" Kotoko nodded. "Interesting."

Just as he said those words, he quickly turned back to the fight as he saw the gathering of energy, a large amount of energy. "Heavenly Dragon Ascension Wave!" They all watched as Ranma quickly moved from the defensive and delivered a powerful uppercut that connected with Naruto's chin.

Many were wondering the point of naming an uppercut as though it were something special. Some people however, felt the gathering of energy in the air and yelled a warning to everyone. The warning came none to soon as powerful winds ripped through the area, lifting up the rocks and dirt around the arena, lifting them up into the air as a tornado formed right in the middle. Having been sent flying by the uppercut, Naruto was caught in the tornado as well while Ranma remained safe on the ground, his face scrunched up in concentration. Naruto saw this and with the help of a Shadow Clone, attacked Ranma with several well placed punches. Unable to fight any longer, all Ranma could do was grin as he fell into unconsciousness.

Up on the stands Neji and Kotoko were confused. Because of their Byakugan they had kept the others updated on the fight as they kept their concentration on not being sucked into the tornado by the powerful winds blowing through the arena. "What's going on? Ranma's been knocked out so why is the tornado still active?"

The answer came from behind them, from another replication. "That's because it isn't a normal tornado." Seeing the looks on their faces, the replication explained. "Ranma created me just before he was knocked out, using the last of his chi reserves. As for your question, I don't control the tornado. The tornado is made by a mixture of hot and cold Chi, or in his case, Chakra, that was formed into a spiral, which I'm sure you noticed seeing as you can see energy with those eyes of yours. So long as there's an active source of energy that the tornado can feed on from within itself it will stay active. As you can see Naruto's trying to use his energy to escape, which the tornado just feeds on to stay active."

"Is this your strongest technique?"

"For now. Of course, it takes time to set-up since I have to avoid getting hit while I form the spiral in order to keep the hot and cold Chi separate otherwise I'd have to start over again. Going by that, I can't fight back until the spiral is complete. It's strong but it takes too much to prepare so I always use it last. Of course, now that I'm out here I can take a few cheap shots."

Aiming a palm at the general area where Naruto was still struggling to escape, the replication fired off three Chi blasts, two of which struck Naruto while the other was absorbed by the tornado after it missed its target. He saw that Naruto was still conscious and he didn't seem to have been significantly hurt by the attack. "Oh well, it was worth a try." He shrugged and turned back to face the other ninjas. "Well, see ya guys later when the real me wakes up." And with that, the replication was gone.

Kotoko immediately stood and waved her arms around, trying to get Naruto's attention from outside the tornado where he was being thrown around, smacking into the various objects that had been sucked in as well. Once she saw that Naruto's attention was on her, she used the hand signals that were commonly used during covert missions and gave him instructions. Naruto was confused by what his daughter had told him but having nothing else to do he complied with her instructions. About a minute later the winds died down and so did the tornado. Naruto landed on the ground beside the fallen Ranma and with a look of pure respect on his face, picked up the teenager and jumped back up to the stands to rejoin the Jounin.

"Dad, are you alright?" Kotoko was the first to act and had helped Naruto onto one of the seats, checking his body for any serious injuries that needed to be addressed. "He wasn't this good when I fought him. I didn't think he'd be able to get you to use the Kyuubi's chakra, even if it was just a bit. Was he really that good?"

"No, good doesn't describe him enough. You'll have to throw in clever and resourceful as well," he replied, sounding proud at having fought someone like Ranma. "In a way he reminds me of how I fight, using deception and using the simplest tricks to pull of complex plans. He only has six techniques that we know of so far and I know Happosai gave him an entire scroll of techniques that he has to master before he gets back for him to attain the title of Grandmaster from him."

"Grandmaster?" This title picked up the curiosity of everyone there, especially those who were considered geniuses and master of something, especially Kakashi who was considered genius of his age group. "Just how old is this kid? He can't be more than twenty years old."

"He's only seventeen turning eighteen in less than a year, and the place he went to is special. I suppose that the best way to describe the place is that it's separated from everywhere else by time. Let's just say that since he's outside the barrier of theirs he'll age much slower than any of us. According to what I've been told he can still develop but even if he's gone for years, it's possible that only months have passed back where he comes from so until eight months pass from where he came from he won't actually turn eighteen."

"Exactly where does he come from?"

"A country called Japan," Naruto replied without hesitation, causing Kotoko to wonder whether he was going to tell them or not. "Only a few people know how to get there so even I can't tell you exactly where it is. It isn't on any map as far as I know." Everyone began talking about this, about how an entire country was hidden from everyone. Kotoko was actually amazed at how Naruto managed to keep the truth a secret. He didn't lie to them, he just told the truth. Just not the full extent of the truth of course.

"So Naruto," Kakashi began. "Care to tell us why you had to call us here for this? I don't think you needed us here just to test his abilities."

'Trust Kakashi to see that something was off.' Naruto only smiled at that as he stood up from the chair he was sitting on. "Well, I'm sure you can all see why he'd be able to help us greatly in this war. However in exchange for his help I made a deal with my friend in Japan. You see, their country is about to go into a war of their own. A war, against the demons."

"D-Demons?"

"That's right, demons just like my furry problem." There were a few laughs at this but that didn't help relieve the tension in the air at the mention of demons. "The people there are strong, and Ranma here is one of their strongest warriors at the moment. While many of them are strong enough to fight a demon one-on-one, there are only a few hundreds of them like that so they obviously can't win. I didn't get all the details but they want us to train Ranma in order to help them fight against the demons. Of course, they gave us their word that Ranma would not teach any of what he learns from us to anybody else except his own children."

"And what makes you so sure that they'll stick to their word?"

"Honor plays a big part in Ranma's life from what I could gather. He is a martial artist and unlike samurais and ninjas who fight for their leader or country, basically doing what their leader says or what would benefit the country the most, martial artists fight only to protect. Whereas the ninja and samurai are sworn to serve and protect their lord and their country, martial artists protect those who cannot protect themselves, even at the cost of their lives. Ranma sticks to the code of a martial artist so much that he refuses to take a human life and even considers a beaten opponent as someone who cannot protect himself, therefore once he has beaten someone there's no reason to go on."

"But won't that cause problems for us during the war?"

"Don't worry, I've already talked to him about that. He'll still be hesitant but I'm sure that he'll kill if he's forced to decide between his code and the life of another. He's made that decision once before, to save his fiancée from what I've been told. That was almost a year ago but he still feels guilty about it. Apparently he killed the leader of an entire tribe, a leader who was only trying to keep his own from extinction."

"Sounds like he's had a rough life," commented Neji. "We ninjas are prepared from a young age to be able to kill. We know that we'll have to kill someone one day, even as young as when we're in the Academy. Because of his code however…"

Neji left the sentence hanging, the following statement already clear to those around him. The silence was broken when Naruto continued his explanation from where he left off. "Anyway, as I was saying. They want us to train Ranma to help them with their own war. Personally I'd like to help them by sending a few ninjas but we've already suffered from an attack by one demon, I can't risk the village coming under attack from an entire horde. Since I'll be busy with my own duties, I'll be assigning some of the Jounin to train him instead. This was mostly so you can see what kind of fighter you'll be working with."

"Obviously his taijutsu doesn't need any work but you'll have to teach him how to use his Chakra. Kotoko already checked him out earlier and it seems that since he's been training as a kid, his Chakra coils are developed enough for him to use Chakra so his age won't be a problem, at least, that's what Hinata and I could come up with. He's just about the level of someone starting at the Academy. While he will be able to use Chakra, remember that he doesn't have the amount of Chakra we do. Let me warn you though, he's a fast learner so you better make sure you don't run out of lessons too early. I'll be sending you all word about who'll be teaching him as well as possible substitutes in case some of you are out on missions. I expect you guys to teach him what you can, seeing as he'll be helping us in the war against Iwa and Kumo. The stronger he gets the better."

"Will you be teaching him as well?"

"If I can find the time. But you guys will be doing most of the teaching. I'll mostly help by lending him scrolls to learn from. Of course, there are some scrolls that I won't need to let him see." The Jounins understood this and knew which scrolls he was referring to. "If there are no other questions then I better get back to my office. I probably have piles of paperwork to finish, not to mention the paperwork needed to get the arena fixed up again."

"Naruto-kun, aren't you forgetting something?" Naruto swallowed at the sugary sweet voice that Hinata was using. Whenever she used that tone it always meant something bad for him. "Did you forget what I said about using _that_ technique again?"

'What technique?' He thought. His mind was a blank as he quickly went through the fight in his head. 'Oh… that. I'm a dead man.' Mentally praying to whatever God there was, he turned to his children and said in a strained tone, "Think you two could take Ranma and his things back to the office for me?"

They didn't need to be told twice as Keiji shouldered Ranma and quickly ran out of the stadium with Kotoko beside him, the other Jounins close behind them as they ran to avoid what was coming, everyone carrying some of the things Ranma had pulled out of his subspace pocket, except for Ryoga's umbrella which none of them could lift. Of course, nobody ran as fast as Neji, who had already crossed half the distance to the Hyuuga mansion by the time the others got out of the arena. The Hyuuga temper was well known across Konoha, specifically when it came to the female Hyuugas. It was the main reason why many males, regardless of how desirable the Hyuuga might appear, did not want to end up married to one. It was either you appeal to them to keep them happy or prepare to face the wrath of a female Hyuuga. Their wrath was at least twice as bad during certain times of the month.

There has yet to be a single male who could stand up to an angered Hyuuga female, other than Naruto who had faced his wife's anger several times in the past, all for the same reason and has, obviously, not yet learned his lesson to date. It made others wonder if Naruto had any masochistic tendencies. And that afternoon, everyone in Konoha was reminded of that fact as they heard every word that Hinata yelled at Naruto, reminding him of how degrading for women that technique was. As Kotoko, Keiji and the Jounins ran from the arena with their hands covering their ears, they all looked to the still unconscious Ranma situated upon Keiji's shoulder, all of them thinking the same two thoughts. One thought was 'How the hell can he sleep through that?' And the other was, 'He's lucky to be asleep. Sucks to be Naruto/dad though.'

_END CHAPTER 1_

**And that's the end for the first chapter of the second arc. It's definitely much longer than any of the previous chapters but that's mainly because this arc will be the longest or the second longest depending on the content of one of the later arcs. **

**Anyway, please click on the 'GO' button at the bottom of the page and tell me what you think of this chapter. Like it? Hate it? Love it? Despise it? Comment? Suggestion? Flames? Criticisms? Any and all is welcome as nothing you say can discourage me, only motivate me to write better, if I can. **

**Thanks for reading this chapter. Until the next one then. :D**


	12. Arc 2 Chapter 2

Terms of Engagement

Terms of Engagement

By Overlord of Order and Overlord of Chaos

**SUMMARY: What if many of the on-goings involving Genma and Nodoka was all a hoax? What if most of what they've said was a lie? What reason could they have to lie to so many people? What does it have to do with Ranma's future?**

_**The Thirteenth Sapphire: **_**The answer to your question is in the final paragraph of the previous chapter. Just think about what technique he used in the fight that goes with what was said in that paragraph. **

_**Dumbledork: **_**I'm not going to 'time jump' too much. Maybe by a week or so at a time but not so much as a month or years. As for the Ranma/Kotoko pairing, I've already decided that Ranma won't be paired up with anyone. There's a reason for this but you'll have to wait to find out.**

_Arc 2: Ninja Training_

_Chapter 2: I'm gonna be a Ninja_

Deep within the forests of Fire Country laid Konoha, the village hidden in the leaves. Konoha was known to be the strongest of all the shinobi villages. Some say it was due to the different Bloodlines at their disposal. Some say it's because of the fact that they had the legendary Sannin helping then in times of need. The ninjas of Konoha, however, say different. It's because the way they operate is different from all the other shinobi villages. While all ninjas know the importance of teamwork, Konoha lives because of teamwork. Each and every ninja within Konoha is taught that there are times that the laws of being a ninja must be broken and that helping their teammates is more important than the completion of a mission.

Of course, not all the ninjas follow this teaching but those that do are considered some of the strongest of Konoha. It is their unity that gives them strength. Individually they are already powerful but when united and working alongside trusted friends, their power and potential are almost limitless. Many ninjas of Konoha learned this the hard way and soon regret having put the mission before the lives of their comrades. Though not all of them learned through the death of a comrade, having seen their comrades severely injured and put into a near death state was more than enough for them to learn the lesson.

Sakura Haruno, one of Konoha's top medic ninjas, was already awake early that morning and was already walking through the empty streets of Konoha. It had become a habit for her early in the morning to come here and visit the memorial stone before doing anything else. That morning was no different as she took her customary route towards the training grounds where the memorial stone was located. This time however, she encountered someone who was looking a little lost. "Lost?" She asked, already knowing the answer by the way the person was scratching the back of his head and looking around muttering to himself. When the person turned around and looked at her with a nervous smile on his face, she herself gave a slightly puzzled look. "I don't think I've seen you around before. I've seen pretty much everybody in Konoha but I haven't seen you before. Is this your first time here?"

Ranma finally took notice of who had spoken and almost two years of conditioning kicked in as one thought dominated his mind. 'Keep your eyes above her neck'. "Yeah, you could say that. Sorry for the trouble." The woman in front of him was… different, to say the least. There was a strange aura around her as though there were two people in front of him instead of just one. Common sense told him that there was just one person there while instinct told him that there were two people. Logic came to the conclusion that there were two people in front of him sharing one body. That wasn't all. What had really caught his attention was the fact that she had a strange demonic aura around her. It was small but it was definitely there.

"It's alright," she replied, a small smile appearing as she walked up to the pigtailed teen. "I'm Sakura by the way. Sakura Haruno. And you are?"

"Ranma Saotome."

"Oh, so you're the one all the Jounins have been talking about. Excuse me if I find it hard to believe that someone as young as you could possibly push Naruto so far. I'm not saying it's impossible," she said quickly before Ranma could say anything. "Just improbable. So, where are you headed to? Maybe I can show you the way there"

"Know a good place I can train?"

Sakura nodded as she gestured for Ranma to follow her. "I can take you there seeing as I'm headed in the same direction." He thanked the woman as the pair made their way through the mostly empty streets of Konoha. Having gotten used to making her way directly to the memorial stone, she had forgotten to point Ranma in the direction of one of the training grounds where he could train. "Since you're here I may as well tell you unless you've already been told. This is the memorial stone where the names of ninjas, who are honored for taking part in an important battle, are engraved."

"Well, you don't honor a hero or a brave soldier by putting their name on a memorial stone so I'm guessing they died during those battles."

"Right. There are two people here that I come to visit every time, even though the second isn't exactly someone some of the ninjas like talking about regardless of the fact that many of the civilians see him as a hero. My sensei and my teammate."

"What happened?" Asked Ranma as he took a seat beside Sakura, looking at the names on the memorial stone. "If it's alright with you I mean."

Sakura let out a heavy sigh, something that told Ranma just how much she was burdened or saddened by their deaths. "My sensei died because I was too weak to protect myself from an enemy ninja and my teammate died because I was too young and naïve to realize that my friends were right about him, that he was a traitor to the Leaf and would never return to us."

"I can't really say I understand," began Ranma as he continued to read the names on the stone. "I'm not really in any position to help since I don't know the full story. But do you really think that they'd want you to be beating yourself up like this? I mean, think about it. What's past is past and you can't change that anymore. You can regret what you did for years and nothing would change. There's really nothing you can do about it except to put it behind you and face the future."

"So you're saying I should forget that it ever happened?"

Ranma could feel the anger in the woman's voice but as usual, he just spoke without thinking. Thankfully, his words seemed to be just what was needed. "Not really. I'm just saying that you shouldn't think about it so much. If you dwell on the past too much you won't be able to move forward towards the future. You'll just be stuck going around in circles all the time or maybe even worse, one step forward and two steps back. After all, I'm sure your sensei wouldn't want to see you beating yourself up for this." Ranma paused at that before suddenly bursting out in laughter. The laughter however was hollow and full of sadness instead of mirth and happiness. "Listen to me. I'm telling you to move on after losing two people when I can't even move on after killing one guy who was reborn afterwards."

'Reborn? What does he mean, reborn?' That one word stayed in her mind as she thought about what it could possibly mean asides from the obvious. "Well, they say the first kill is always the hardest but I suppose that because of your code as a martial artist you've taken it harder than most." She didn't need to look to know that Ranma was wondering how she knew about that. "The other Jounins explained to me about your status as a martial artist and that you can't kill because of your code. They also told me about how you killed in order to save your fiancée. But tell me, what if you were faced with the same choice again? Only this time it was either you or him with no one else to worry about but yourself? Would you let him kill you simply because you can't kill?"

Sakura had expected Ranma to hesitate or to answer that yes, he would rather die than break his code a second time. She was surprised when Ranma shook his head instead. "No, of course I won't let him kill me. I'll try not to kill him but if I can't escape that then I guess I'll be forced to kill again. Naruto-san told me something yesterday that made a lot of sense. He said to me, 'If you die, who will protect the ones you love? You have to keep living for them, if not for yourself'."

"That does sound like something he'd say. You remind me a lot of him actually."

"Whaddya mean?"

"It's like you two seem to bring change with you wherever either of you go. Just by knowing you the lives of others are changed, usually for the better. I've seen Naruto convince more enemy ninjas to join Konoha in a month than all the other ninjas combined in a year. As for you, I met you barely half an hour ago and you've managed to help me cope with my sensei's and my teammate's deaths a bit more, something that's been on my mind for 20 years now. Of course, I don't think I'll ever get used to seeing their names on this stone but at least it won't hurt as much now."

"Glad I could help. Now if only I could do that with my own problems then maybe I wouldn't have been fighting for my life everyday for the past two years."

The pair sat in silence once more, both of them simply sitting there, gazing at the memorial stone and the names engraved upon the surface when a ninja with a tiger mask appeared behind them. "Ranma Saotome and Sakura Haruno, your presence is required by Hokage-sama. He requests that you be at the office within the next half hour."

Sakura nodded to the ninja, who promptly disappeared in a swirl of leaves, as she stood up and brushed off the seat of her pants, Ranma doing the same. "Do all you ninjas wear animal masks?"

"Only the ANBU, the special forces of each hidden village."

"Special forces? Are you sure you should be telling me that? Sounds like a big secret to me."

"Not really, practically everyone knows the ANBU exist. It's more of a rank anyway. Anyway, we better get going to see Naruto. Just a reminder, when inside the Hokage's office you're supposed to address him as Hokage-sama."

"Gotcha."

Walking away from the memorial, the ninja and the martial artist proceeded to the tower in silence. Before he knew it they had arrived at the tower and had already made their way in front of Naruto's office where four other Jounins were waiting, all four of them present during his fight. Almost as though Naruto had known they were all present, Keiji came through the door and said, "Dad will-" He was interrupted by a book hitting his head from behind. Ranma caught the book as it passed beside his head and upon looking at it, saw that it was a book on manners. "Er… Hokage-sama will see you now."

The five Jounins and the martial artist waked into the office in a straight line and stood in front of Naruto as he went through some of the paperwork on his desk with Hinata standing behind him, seemingly watching his every movement. "Well, I'm sure you already know what you're here for so I'll just hand Ranma his training schedule and you can check with him regarding who will be teaching him what." He pulled out a piece of paper from underneath a large pile and handed it to the person closest to the desk, who turned out to be Ranma. "If you have any questions, ask them now since it looks like I'm gonna be stuck here for the next few days, probably weeks."

"Sucks ta be you huh Naruto-san?" Ranma asked casually, looking over his schedule, ignoring the looks he was getting from some of the Jounins when he didn't address Naruto properly.

_**Weekdays**_

_5:00 – 7:00 – Chakra Control_

_7:00 – 8:00 – Breakfast_

_8:00 – 11:00 – Ninjutsu with Kakashi Hatake_

_11:00 – 12:00 – Lunch_

_12:00 – 3:00 – Genjutsu with Kurenai Yuuhi_

_3:00 – 5:00 – Medic training with Sakura Haruno and Hinata Hyuuga_

_5:00 – 7:00 – Tracking with Kiba Inuzuka and Neji Hyuuga_

_7:00 – 8:00 – Dinner_

_8:00 – 10:00 – Stealth training with Kiba Inuzuka and Neji Hyuuga_

_**Saturday**_

_8:00 – 11:00 – Help out Ayame_

_11:00 – 12:00 – Lunch_

_12:00 – 5:00 – Sparring_

He groaned after reading the first thing he had to do on Saturday but quickly turned his thoughts to something else. "I have two questions." He said after handing the schedule over to the Jounins behind him. "Who's gonna be teaching me the uh… Chakra control stuff and who am I gonna be sparring with?"

"Any of them can teach you Chakra control until you only need to repeat what you've learned without someone watching you and as for sparring you'll be sparring with each of them at least once on that day using only whatever you learn from the village. In short you'll have to limit yourself to using Chakra and your taijutsu. Anyway, for the training areas you'll have to talk to them about it. Dismissed."

Six people from the room left with a seventh following after leaving instructions for Keiji to make sure his father works hard. Outside the office, Hinata walked in on Kakashi introducing the other Jounins to Ranma. "That's Kurenai, seeing as she's Konoha's Genjutsu expert she'll be helping you in that area. Sakura and Hinata, both of them you already know, are two of the village's best medic ninjas. They'll be teaching you how to use Chakra to do most things regarding being a medic. The members of the Inuzuka clan are top class trackers so you'll be training with Kiba and his companion, Akamaru. And that's Neji, the head of the Hyuuga clan. He'll-"

"Because of those eyes of theirs I'll be training in stealth and tracking with him, right?" Ranma interjected, jerking his thumb over his shoulder towards Neji. "So do we start now or can I train on my own for today?"

"Might as well," Kakashi replied as he looked at the clock hanging on the wall. "It's still early so meet me in front of the memorial as soon as you can to begin your lessons in Chakra control. Ask one of them to guide you there if you don't know where it is. I'll see you there." Forming a handseal, Kakashi disappeared in a swirl of leaves, leaving the others behind.

Shrugging at the display of ability, Ranma walked over to the nearest window and opened it up. "What are you doing?"

Turning around, Ranma simply gave his trademark grin as he replied. "It's the fastest way out," he replied as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. "I wanna start training as soon as I can." Before anybody could stop him, Ranma jumped out of the window.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" He heard someone scream above him as he began his freefall.

Three heads popped out the window while inside the room, the two Hyuugas activated their Byakugan and watched from behind the other three. Two people let out a sigh of relief but everybody looked impressed, even if but a little bit, when they saw Ranma create a replication that caught him in mid-air and threw Ranma towards the training grounds before disappearing. They watched as Ranma landed on the roof of a building and bound from rooftop to rooftop at high speeds, watching him for as long as they could see him. Eventually he disappeared behind the treetops and they all turned back to each other. "He's definitely something isn't he?"

Turning around they saw Naruto walking over to them. Hinata looked like she was about to say something when Naruto beat her to it. "Don't worry about the paperwork. Keiji made a bet with me and lost so I've got the whole day to waste. I'm gonna go see how Ranma does on his first day. Anyone else wanna come along?"

"Perhaps another time," said Neji as he began to leave the room. "I still have to write my mission report and I have to speak with the council regarding yesterday's events."

"My shift at the hospital isn't until tonight so I'll join you Naruto."

"Sure, I wanna watch the guy who nearly kicked your butt yesterday. I wanna see how good he is as a ninja."

"I'm curious as well so I'll join you at least until I have to meet my team."

"So that's everyone except for Neji," recounted Hinata as they left the room and leisurely began to walk towards the memorial.

"So Naruto," began the pink haired medic ninja. "Why don't you tell me more about this Ranma? I was busy at the hospital so I couldn't make it yesterday. Then last night the other Jounins told me about what you told them after the fight so now I'm really interested."

"I might as well just tell the whole story to the entire village," he muttered to himself, getting tired of having to explain things since Ranma wasn't there to do it in his stead. He repeated what he said to the Jounins after the fight the day before as well as adding a description of each of the techniques Ranma used as well as telling her what he thought of him and how the fight went. "As I said to the Jounins before the fight started, Ranma will help us win the coming war against Iwa and Kumo."

"Can one man, especially someone so young, really make that much of a difference Naruto?" Asked Sakura. "I understand just how strong he is if you had to use that Chakra near the end of the fight. But should we really be relying on one person to help us win? By the way you're talking it's like we can't win without his help."

"It's not that we can't win Sakura. It's more along the lines that something much bigger than this war is coming. He'll help us win sooner and the sooner we win the faster we can recover before the next big problem arrives."

"Just what is coming? What could be bigger than what could possibly be the next Shinobi War if the other countries and villages decide to join the fight?"

"Do you really want to know Sakura?" She nodded without hesitation, Kiba and Kurenai listening intently as well. "A war between two races."

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"Now we can begin."

Ranma had just arrived at the memorial where he and Sakura had spoken earlier. Sitting in front of the memorial was Kakashi, his back turned to Ranma as he stood and turned to face him. "I take it you lost someone too?" A slow nod was all he received.

"Now then, has Naruto explained to you what Chakra is?" He too received a nod in reply. "Good, that saves me time. The first thing I'll need to teach you are hand seals, which, if you don't know, are required to mold Chakra in order to use ninjutsu and genjutsu. Before I can teach you how to control your Chakra, you'll first have to learn how to mold it. There are twelve seals all in all which you'll have to remember. I'll show them to you one by one until you can memorize and perform them all. Rat."

Kakashi formed the seal and watched as Ranma performed the seal as well, a bit unsure at first before pulling his hands apart then putting it into the seal once more. "Good. Next is Ox."

Once again, the pair repeated the same set of motions, Ranma having a bit more difficulty putting his hands together as fast as he did with the Rat seal. "Tiger… Hare… Dragon… Serpent… Horse… Ram… Monkey… Bird… Dog… And finally, Boar."

With each seal, Kakashi demonstrated to Ranma how to form them before Ranma copied it then repeated it, trying until he could do it without difficulty. "Have you memorized them or do you want me to demonstrate one of them again?"

"Nah, I've got. So, what's next?"

"Next, I'm going to give you a sequence of seals and I want you to perform them as fast as you can without making any mistakes. Any mistakes and you'll have to repeat it. Too slow and you'll repeat it. Got that?" Ranma nodded. "Begin as soon as I'm finished with the sequence. Dog, Boar, Ram and Rat."

Ranma formed the seals as quickly as he could, pausing for a split second after each seal to make sure it was right. With a satisfied nod from the silver haired Jounin, he continued. "Rat, Monkey, Boar, Dragon." This time, Ranma paused longer when it came to performing the second and fourth seal. "Horse, Dragon, Serpent, Dragon, Bird." This time, Ranma had trouble and didn't finish as fast as the first two. "Too slow. Do it again, same sequence."

That was the scene that the other Jounins and one Hokage walked into, Ranma trying to form the five seals as fast as he could to satisfy the Jounin. 'Ok let's try that again.' Performing the seals again, he looked up to the Jounin only to receive a slow shake of his head. Instead of running through the seals again, Ranma dropped down onto the ground and crossed his legs as he performed the four seals needed in the sequence of five. 'Ok let's see, Horse uses six interlocking fingers with two fingertips touching and the thumbs bent slightly. Dragon has six interlocking fingers, both thumbs up and bent with one on top of the other and the little fingers have their fingertips touching. Serpent has all ten fingers interlocked and Bird only has two while the others just touch.'

He tried performing the five seals once more but found that he was still too slow for Kakashi to approve of. Thinking over the seals again, an idea came to Ranma's mind. He ran through the five seals again, this time keeping his fingers mostly in the same position and moving only those that needed to be changed as he went from one seal to another. "Good," said Kakashi. "Let's try a longer sequence. Ox, Boar, Dog, Ox, Dragon, Hare, Serpent, Ram, Tiger, Monkey."

Ranma paused for a bit at the start before running through the seals, earning a small, unseen smile from Kakashi. They continued to do this for ten more minutes before Kakashi decided that Ranma was good enough at it. "Now that you've got that part we can move on. Basically, hand seals are 'instructions' for our Chakra, telling it how much is needed, where it is needed and what it needs to do. From there all we'd have to do is let our body drain out the necessary amount of Chakra for the technique. This is mainly why those who force too much Chakra or those who hold onto their Chakra usually end up with a botched technique. For example, this sequence-" He ran through a series of hand seals before ending the sequence. Not a second after he finished, he took a deep breath and exhaled, a large fireball shooting out of his mouth into the air. "-Tells our Chakra to move to our throat and when we breathe out, turn into a fireball. I don't think you'll benefit much from learning the theory behind it so I won't explain how it turns to fire, that is unless you want me to explain."

Ranma quickly shook his head, grateful that Kakashi had asked first instead of going on about something he might not understand. "But, won't that make you predictable if you opponent knows what technique you're about to use by simply watching you and what seals you're making?"

"You catch on quick," he replied with a small smile hidden underneath his facemask. "That's true, which is why forming seals as quickly as possible is important for any ninja as well as knowing techniques which use the same sequence for the start but ending with a slight deviation from the other. The latter is rare but there are a few out there. Knowing those techniques make it easy to fool the opponent. Make him think you're about to perform one technique, then switch to another suddenly."

"Can Chakra still be molded without hand seals?"

"It's possible, yes. There are a few techniques don't require hand seals at all. But to use a technique without the use of the required hand seals require a great deal of Chakra control, something that not too many can do. Even those that can are usually limited to basic techniques such as Substitution, Transformation and Replication, the three basic ninjutsu techniques because of the level of Chakra control needed."

"But if they have that much control why would they only use basic techniques?"

'He certainly knows what questions to ask,' he noted to himself. "Because without the seals to regulate the flow of Chakra, we would have to not only mold the Chakra ourselves but we would also have to gather the required amount ourselves, direct it to the proper area, manipulate it in the way it is needed and then maintain it for as long as it is needed. The three basic techniques are easy to control compared to any other technique."

Glancing at his watch, Kakashi looked to Ranma and said, "Well, according to the schedule it's time for breakfast. Be back here in an hour for your first ninjutsu lesson." Forming another seal, he disappeared in a swirl of leaves just like he did earlier on.

Shrugging his shoulders, Ranma stood up and began to walk towards town, paying no attention to the group of Jounins watching him from the trees. The group jumped down, the coat wearing Jounin making the first comment. "You fought that hard against that guy Naruto? He couldn't even sense us. He'll be dead in minutes."

"Maybe he was just concentrating Kiba," said Naruto as they began to follow Ranma out of the training fields. "I mean, from what I've heard he becomes excited at the thought of learning a new technique."

As they were walking, Sakura stopped when her foot hit something. "What's this?" Turning to Sakura, they saw her bend down to pick up what appeared to be a small photo album. They gathered around her and looked through the album. The pictures in it were numerous pictures of Ranma back when he was still in Nerima. There were pictures where he was by himself, pictures in his girl form, pictures with the Tendo family as well as with the Saotome family, pictures with both families, pictures of him fighting his rivals and many other pictures.

When they came to the last page of the album they saw something that confused them greatly. It was a picture of all of them standing around Sakura, who was holding a photo album as well, much like they were right at that moment. "Hey, what's that?" Taking a closer look they could see a faint yellow glow coming from behind the group.

Naruto, having seen a similar yellow glow from before, could only say one thing. "Oh, crap."

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"So you're really going to help out at the restaurant every Saturday?"

"A deal's a deal after all Ayame-san," said Ranma as he took in another mouthful of his ramen, swallowing before lifting the bowl up to his mouth and draining it of it's remaining contents. "Well, I better start running."

Ayame gave Ranma a confused look and asked, "What for? You've only been here for five minutes. And besides, shouldn't you rest a while before running around after a meal?"

"Not if I wanna live. It should be just about… now." Just as he said the word, a loud explosion was heard coming from the training grounds as well as what sounded like a group of voices yelling his name in anger. "See ya around. Oh, and if they ask you where I went just point them in the right direction. I wanna hear what they have to say if they catch up to me."

With that, Ranma ran off, leaving his payment for the food on the counter. "Naruto certainly meets the strangest people," Ayame commented, picking up the small stack of bowls and preparing to wash them up.

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Back at the training grounds a group of Jounin, plus one Hokage, were lying around the training area, dirt covering them from the earlier explosion. "You just had to bring back another prankster, didn't you Naruto?" Sakura deadpanned.

"Happosai didn't tell me he liked playing pranks."

"He's even worse than you since he doesn't use Chakra. We didn't even sense that clone of his."

"… On second thought, maybe he did find us."

"SHUT UP KIBA!"

Being the closest to the object, Naruto saw something beside him and looked at it. He could make it out as another photo and without thinking picked it up and saw a picture of them lying around after the explosion. He began to stand along with everyone else as they gathered to see the photo that Naruto had. For a brief moment he felt a light tugging coming from the photo along with a feeling of dread. Looking down, he could now see a thin wire running from the photo to the ground. "Oh crap," was all he could say once again as the ground collapsed beneath them, all of them falling into a small hole that wasn't big enough for all of them, thus causing great discomfort among the group. "NARUTO!!"

His only reply was a pathetic "Sorry."

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Nearly an hour later, Ranma walked back to the memorial where he found a disheveled, dirty and angry group glaring daggers at him while Kakashi was standing off to the side watching carefully. "Uh… did I interrupt something?" He asked, an innocent look on his face as he looked from one person to the next before finally turning to Kakashi, who shrugged.

The group didn't say anything but instead walked over to the side where they silently stood as Kakashi walked over to Ranma to begin the lesson. "I don't know what you did but it must have been something big to get them that mad. What did you do anyway?"

"Meh, I just taught them not to underestimate me, that's all. So, what are you gonna teach me today?"

"Since you're still starting I'll be teaching you the three basic techniques, Replication, Body Replacement and Transformation. Since you seem to have an idea of making clones we'll start with Replication. There are many different replications, or clones, that can be made with Chakra and sometimes with the right element. You're already familiar with Shadow Clones, which divide the user's Chakra evenly among all the clones. There are also the Rock clones and Mud Clones, both of which you'll be seeing since our enemy in this war is the Rock, as well as Water Clones. The basic clone is different from all of those. While those clones can only fight with a percentage of your skills and abilities as well as getting destroyed after getting hit by a solid blow, regular clones can't fight at all. Let me show you."

With a quick hand seal, another Kakashi stood beside the original, although Ranma could feel that the clone was different. Reaching out with a hand, Ranma's hand went right through the clone. "So it's basically just a projection of energy instead of creating a clone then?"

"More or less," Kakashi replied with a short nod. "Now, you try. And remember what I said earlier. Don't try to either force more Chakra into it or hold onto the Chakra being pulled from your body. Just focus on what you want your Chakra to do and let it do the rest. Also, calling out the name of the technique helps as further instructions for your Chakra like hand seals do."

"Right." Nodding his head, Ranma formed the same seal that Kakashi did and focused on the technique. "Clone Technique." Unfortunately he had pulled on the wrong energy source, thus simply creating one of his own clones instead of the one needed. "Ok… I don't get it."

"Pulled on the wrong energy eh? Well, I expected as much. Your body's used to using your Chi so now it's having trouble drawing on another source. Much like how a right-handed person would have trouble doing the same things with their left hand."

"Looks like it's time to go back to the basics then," he mumbled underneath his breath as he tried again. This time, he concentrated on holding back his Chi but failed as another one of his clones appeared and shook its head before disappearing. He tried again and again, each time trying to hold back his Chi but to no avail. After several fruitless attempts, he sat down onto the ground and settled into a thinking position just as he did that morning. He switched to a lotus position and began to meditate, focusing on his source of Chakra.

While he did this, Kakashi had walked up to the younger ninjas and asked, "So, care to say what it was he did earlier that made you all so worked up?" They all looked at each other before Naruto sighed and relayed to Kakashi the events that happened after he left that morning. "So basically he managed to trap not just one Jounin, but three Jounin, one Special Jounin and the Hokage?" They all nodded. "And he got you not once, but four times?" Another round of nods. "And you couldn't sense him properly since his Chakra levels are low, you can't sense Chi and even when you did sense him he suddenly disappears before you could confront him?" More nods.

Kakashi sighed, hanging his head down and shaking it from side to side. "Now I'm beginning to wonder if we can really win this war if our own Hokage can't even see through a simple trap, even if it was a harmless prank."

"Give me a break. Who got caught by a simple blackboard eraser by a 12 year old? Besides, I didn't know he was the kind to pull pranks."

Kakashi ignored the second statement and replied smoothly with a hidden grin. "Much like how no one knows that you pulled pranks to train yourself?" That got everybody's attention. Kakashi could be seen smirking behind his mask at the look of surprise on Naruto's face. "Don't forget who you're talking to Naruto, look underneath the underneath and all that. Besides, anyone who stopped to analyze the situation would have noticed it if they hadn't been too busy getting mad at you or laughing at your prank. After all, how many academy ninjas can run and hide from Chuunins, Jounins and sometimes an ANBU member?"

He then lowered his voice a bit, taking care not to let their guest hear him even by coincidence. "If you ask me I think he did that to get your attention, _and,_ just as he said,to tell you not to underestimate him. Now, I don't know what kind of life he's had but if you look at how he acts carefully you'll see that he's very much like someone we all know."

"Naruto." Unsurprisingly the answer came from the pink haired girl in their midst. "That's what I told him this morning, that he reminds me of Naruto. And now that you mention it, he's even more like Naruto than I first thought. He seems to want to show that he isn't someone you should underestimate. He wants people to acknowledge him just like how Naruto wanted Konoha to acknowledge him as well. What I don't understand is why. Why would he want to be acknowledged by those around him?"

The answer came from a voice that nobody expected. It was a voice, however, that was recognized by the only couple in the group. "He wants to be acknowledged because not too many people acknowledge him for who he truly is. Many of the people in his life see him as a trophy to be won or as a bargaining chip in order to get what they want. Many often use him as a scapegoat in order to get away with whatever it was they were accused of."

"He also wants to test himself against stronger opponents by showing those he deems powerful what he is capable of and seeing how he compares to them," continued the speaker. "There are those that have looked down upon him, saying that he could never hope to defeat them and yet he defeats them. There are also those that refuse to acknowledge his obvious superiority in combat and have deluded themselves into thinking that they could beat him only a day after losing to him."

"Ranma is a genius in battle. Combine that with the fact that he works much harder than most people then you have a powerful fighter who continues to improve by leaps and bounds. Yet regardless of his strength, only a few people have acknowledged him for being strong. He has done many good deeds and while the people he helped thank him, those people who he wants to acknowledge his deeds say nothing and instead say that it should be expected of a martial artist to help other. He has many friends but not a single _true_ friend that would give their life to save his without having to think about it. In the end it is always him having to stare certain death in the face in place of others. Yet even when on the brink of death he always manages to come back. Sometimes I wonder what it is that is so important to him that keeps him alive."

"When did you get here Happosai?"

"Just now my boy, just now."

"So, his life has been that hard? I mean, he told Kotoko and I about his father's stupid training techniques but I didn't think it was that bad."

"Ah yes, my stupid student's stupid training methods. Genma may be an idiot but he is powerful in his own right. Yes, Ranma's life has always been hard and I have yet to understand why everything seems to pile against him. It's as though the Gods themselves are trying to make his life harder. From what I remember the boy can rarely sleep without having any sort of unpleasant dream since he undertook the Cat-fist training. And not all of those unpleasant dreams have something to do with the Cat-fist training."

"Another one of his stupid training methods I take it?"

"The most stupid and idiotic one of them all."

"Excuse me, but what are you two talking about? What's this Cat-fist training?"

"That," Happosai sighed out, "Is Ranma's story to tell and not mine." Deciding to move away from delicate topics, Happosai turned to Ranma and asked the group, "So, I take it he's having trouble channeling this Chakra energy you people use?"

"Yeah, he is. I'm guessing you came because you knew he would?"

The old martial artist nodded and jumped down from the tree branch, walking over to Ranma without saying a word. "Got any ideas with what I should do old man?"

"Well, I'm sure you already know what's going wrong so I'll just help you remedy that problem." Without warning the grandmaster of Anything Goes rushed forward, faster than Ranma could follow, and slammed a palm onto Ranma's solar plexus, sending him flying back and slamming into a tree. "There, that should solve the problem. As for reversing the effects, well, I'll just let you figure that out on your own. Think of it as another test before you inherit the title of Grandmaster from me. I'll be back every now and again to see how your training is coming along."

And just like that he was gone from their view, disappearing in the blink of an eye without a trail to follow, visible or not. They all quickly ran up to Ranma, checking up on him as he stood up shakily. "Are you alright?" Asked Sakura as she did a quick check on him.

"Yeah, but whatever the old man did sure took it out of me." He stood up shakily before waving it off and walking back to the center of the clearing, the others standing off to the side to continue watching him. He only sat down for half a minute before his eyes shot open in surprise. He stood up again, formed the hand seal and called out, "Clone Technique." A clone appeared but this time Ranma was grinning as he pushed his hand right through the clone, causing it to disappear. "Thank you Happosai."

"Well done Ranma. So, what did that told man do to you? I take it that it helped out."

"He sealed up my Chi so I can't use it outside my body," replied Ranma as he remembered what he discovered just seconds ago. "I can still move it around the way I want it to but I can't push it outside of my body unless I reverse the technique he used on me."

"And how do you do that?"

"Well, he did say that I should figure it out on my own. Looks like it'll be a while before I can work on my own techniques."

Kakashi just nodded as he began to explain the next technique to his newest student. "Next is Body Replacement. Basically you have to focus on a nearby object and use your Chakra to switch places with it. I'll demonstrate." Forming another seal, Kakashi disappeared with a puff of smoke and when it disappeared there was a branch lying on the ground. "Focus your Chakra, find something to replace yourself with and will your Chakra to switch your position with the object. The larger the object you're trying to switch with the more control and Chakra you'll need so start with something small."

Nodding, Ranma once again got to work but found the technique more difficult than the first one. While he was doing so, the others were once again talking about the martial artist. "So how do you think he'll hold out now that his Chi's sealed in him?"

"I'll bet he can't fight as good as he did yesterday," barked out Kiba. "Without his so called Chi to enhance his movements he won't be as fast or as strong as he was."

"I hate to break it to you all but he wasn't enhancing his body at all." This statement caused everyone to turn to face Naruto's wife, the looks on their faces asking her to explain what she said. "I was watching the fight so I'd know, especially with the Byakugan. What you saw was really his own abilities. He's as strong and as fast as we all saw, all without enhancing his abilities with any sort of energy. The only time he did enhance his body was near the end of the fight when he started forming the spiral."

"But… that can't be right. Nobody we know can move that fast without any help. Actually, the only person I can think of is Lee."

"If Lee can do it why not him? He's a Taijutsu specialist like Lee who has been training since he could walk, or so I've been told, while Lee has been training since he was in the Academy after learning that he couldn't use Chakra. And since Lee can't use his Chakra, he uses the Gates to give himself a boost whereas Ranma uses his Chi." That got her thinking. "Maybe we should set up a Taijutsu only match between the two of them. Since Ranma can't use his Chi for now it would allow us to see just how far he can push himself without any sort of help."

"That sound like a good idea. Let's just hope Ranma has enough sense not to dress like Lee."

Looking over to where Ranma was they saw that he was still trying to use Body Substitution. Every now and then the branch would disappear but instead of reappearing in Ranma's place, it reappeared slightly to the side of where it originally was. With a few words from Hinata, Kakashi nodded and walked over to Ranma. "Well, according to Hinata your reserves are getting low so we'll continue tomorrow. If you want to continue practicing on your own, just be sure to be careful. Don't wear yourself out too much or you'll wind up in the hospital on your first day."

Nodding, Ranma didn't break his concentration as he attempted it once more only to yield the same results. "Ranma." Craning his head around, he saw the scarlet eyed Jounin standing there. "I'll be meeting my new team this afternoon so I'll be teaching you about Genjutsu along with them. I'll meet you here at the appointed time for your first lesson as well."

Nodding once again, Ranma turned back to his task as the others left one by one, leaving him with the person he was with earlier that day. "Aren't you going to rest? If you push yourself too much you'll end up in the hospital for Chakra exhaustion."

"It's not like I haven't exhausted myself before," he replied, yet again failing another attempt at the technique. "Besides, the sooner I get this down the sooner I can learn the next technique. Any idea with what I'm doing wrong Sakura-san?"

"If you were doing something wrong with your Chakra I'm sure Hinata would have told us. Maybe you just need a bit more control. That or you don't have the Chakra capacity for it seeing as you've been trying to form clones earlier. Naruto said that your Chakra capacity is still at the level of a ninja who just entered the Academy so you'll have to deal with having a small capacity for now."

"Man that sucks. Might as well try to see how to reverse what Happosai did to me. Hopefully now that I know what using Chakra feels like I'm not gonna have as much trouble using either of the two when I get my Chi out again."

Once again Ranma took a lotus position on the ground and examined the flow of his Chi while Sakura watched with interest from her perch on top of a tree branch. Pushing his Chi around his body, Ranma watched carefully for anything irregular. After almost half an hour of searching he opened his eyes, finding nothing wrong with the flow. He tried to form a ball of Chi to see but it wouldn't form. He could see his hand glowing lightly but it didn't extend further than that.

Trying again, this time all over his body for an explosion, it still wouldn't appear too far from his body. That was when an idea hit him. 'There's nothing wrong inside but it won't come outside' Shutting his eyes once again he tried to bring his Chi out of his body and found a thin layer of Chi keeping it from leaving, Happosai's Chi to be exact. He tried to force his Chi out, trying to break through the interfering barrier of energy but instead of shooting out of his body as he expected, his Chi only slammed into the barrier and nothing more.

He tried again, this time searching for a weak spot that he could exploit only to find none. It was then he realized that force wasn't the key. He stopped his attempts at breaking the barrier and began to think about another course of action. He sat there for another fifteen minutes before he yelled out in frustration. He quickly stood up and began to punch and kick the air in front of him. "Giving up?" Asked Sakura, mistaking his decision as one to practice his combat skills instead.

"Nah, I just have an easier time thinking like this," he paused then added as an afterthought, "Although it would be better if Ryoga or Mousse was here. I always did think better while I was fighting."

"You think better while fighting?"

"Yeah. Don't know why though, I just do." He ducked as though to avoid an attack only to turn it into a leg sweep, the momentum of the sweep turning it into a roundhouse kick from the other leg. His leg stopped as though it was blocked as he pushed off with his other leg, using it to deliver another roundhouse kick at the invisible opponent's head as he used his hands to keep himself from slamming into the hard ground. "I don't really know why myself but hey, since it works I might as well use it."

"So as long as the method works then you use it?"

"That depends on the method. If it involves something I don't like then I'm not gonna do it obviously. Although if I ain't got no other choice then I might have to whether I like it or not."

Once again the pair was silent except for the sounds of Ranma's swift movements as he aimed to defeat his unseen opponent. It wasn't until much later that another sound permeated the air. The sound of two grumbling stomachs. Both occupants of the clearing gave the other a sheepish look before Ranma stopped what he was doing and Sakura jumped off the branch she was sitting on. They both walked away from the training grounds, Sakura leading the way to a place where they could eat.

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Back in Nerima…

"So the boy has gone off to train in order to attain the true secrets of the school?"

"That is correct. Happosai has given him eight months to complete his training. He must return before the eight months pass and demonstrate the abilities in the scroll he was given in order to prove himself worthy of the title of Grandmaster. If he does return by the eighth month then he will be able to receive his heritage on his eighteenth birthday."

"Very good." The speaker had a deep rumbling voice and was hidden in the shadows along with the other. "Be wary brother." The tone of voice had changed from a business like tone to a warning tone. "Someone has been trying to discover our plans for this world. They know that there will be an attack but the specifics are unknown to them except for the general time that the attack will occur. But just to be on the safe side we'll have to plan accordingly."

"So the attack will begin sooner than expected?"

"No, quite the opposite. We'll put them on edge first and attack much later than expected. That will give you time to ensure that the boy is strong enough to take up the position we have for him."

"That is what's bothering me. How do we ensure the boy's cooperation? His upbringing will not allow him to side with us."

"Oh, leave that to our Lord. He says he can appeal to the boy's honor in order to get him to fight for us regardless of his upbringing."

"That certainly simplifies things. Let's just hope that the boy's sense of honor doesn't change much during the next eight months." As he said this, the man turned around to begin to leave. "Keep me updated brother. I have to go before somebody gets suspicious."

"Take this then." He pulled out a crimson scroll and tossed it to his brother who caught it just as it sailed over his shoulder. "Make sure the boy gets this when he finally learns about his inheritance. The contents of that scroll will make him more helpful to us once he starts to fight for us."

The other man only nodded as he began to walk away once more, the light reflecting off his glasses as he passed beneath the light. If one were to look around the area they would find no trace of either man. Not even a lingering presence could be felt in the area. That was the scene that a certain girl with waist-length, braided, brown hair arrived to almost as soon as the other two disappeared. "So that's their plan," she said to herself, a smirk forming on her face. "Looks like we'll have to delay our defense as well. I better go tell everyone about this."

Just as soon as the spy left, the same man from earlier reappeared from the shadows with a grin on his face. "Hehehe, fool."

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"Alright you three, I'd like you to introduce yourselves before we begin, I'll go first. I'm Kurenai Yuuhi, my specialty is Genjutsu, I despise people who look down and underestimate Genjutsu specialists and my goal is to prove to everyone that Genjutsu is not as useless as it appears."

"What about the things you like Kurenai-sensei?" Kurenai only let out a small grin as she motioned for the boy who spoke to continue. With a sigh the boy began. "My name is Fujitaka Hizumi. My specialty is my lightning techniques. I like beautiful girls, I don't like guys who get the beautiful girls and my goal is to clear my Clan's name." The boy, Fujitaka, was fairly tall for being a 12 year old. He had short, pale blonde hair, almost silver when in the light, and was wearing his forehead protector around his right arm. His clothing was normal for a shinobi, dark colors that allowed him to easily blend in with the shadows.

It was easy for Kurenai to hide her true reaction upon hearing the boy's likes, dislikes and goal. While on the outside she was impassive, she didn't know whether to feel uneasy by the way he was looking at her or feel complimented that he thought she was beautiful. 'I wonder if he knows how old I really am,' she added to herself at that point. Either way, she then spoke without a hint of change in her tone. "Alright, you're next."

"I am Misami Hyuuga," began the girl with an air of authority around her that Kurenai had expected upon learning of the girl's parentage. "My specialties are my clan's taijutsu style and Bloodline Limit. What I like are none of your business, I dislike certain people in my clan and my goal is to return the Hyuuga clan to the way it once was." Like all members of the Hyuuga clan, Misami had pale eyes with no pupils and long flowing black hair tied into a ponytail. As opposed to Fujitaka's dark colors, her clothes were mainly light colors such as beige and white.

Nodding to show that her introduction was acceptable, Kurenai turned, and inwardly twitched her left eye, to face the third member of her new team. With a nod from her, the final member of the team began. "Hi, I'm Ranma Saotome. My specialties are mart… er… taijutsu and my use of Chi. I like training, I hate c-c-c-ca-ca… those furry little things that chase mice, delusional people and my goal is to become the best."

'Well he's certainly different,' was Kurenai's thoughts regarding Ranma's introduction.

Nodding once again, she was about to begin explaining the Genin exam when Misami spoke up. "Sensei, why is _he,_ joining us?" She asked, briefly moving her eyes towards her right where Ranma stood. "I certainly don't remember seeing him at the academy or anywhere in Konoha for that matter."

"Ranma is a… special case. The Hokage recently brought him to the village to help with the oncoming war. Unfortunately, Ranma isn't a ninja so we will be training him as well. And since you two are the academy's best graduates this year, he'll be joining the team along with your third, or rather, fourth member, who is currently in the hospital due to an accident she was involved in, which I'm sure you two are aware of."

"So he doesn't know a single ninja technique?" Piped up Fujitaka, interested in hearing about Ranma upon learning that small bit of information. "Why doesn't he just go to the academy then?"

"For one thing it would take too long," Came the reply from the crimson eyed Jounin. "Ranma was already assigned several Jounin instructors to help him with the basics of ninja techniques. Yesterday he demonstrated his abilities in front of all the Jounin. I can attest to his strength but according to the Hokage his special abilities could easily be neutralized by certain techniques, which is why he is being taught ninja techniques. Also, you don't have to worry about him dragging you down when you go on missions as he is quite the fast learner."

"So? What does it matter if he can learn quickly?" Questioned Misami. "He's already much too old to even try. His Chakra pathways should have tightened up by now. He'd have to train for years in order to get them to be good enough to pass as an academy ninja."

"That's where you're wrong. If you activate your Byakugan and take a look you'll see that it's not quite true." While Misami did as Kurenai had suggested, the latter continued to explain, knowing that the girl would have some questions. "The Hokage and Hinata's theory is that because Ranma has been training since he was young, as well as training how to use another source of energy, his Chakra pathways aren't as tight as they should have been had he not been training. He should be about as good as an academy ninja in terms of Chakra levels."

"You're lying," came the immediate reply followed by a stony glare that was amplified by the bulging veins caused by the Byakugan.

"What?"

Kurenai was obviously confused by this accusation, the look on her face relaying this clearly. "His body is practically overflowing with energy." Without waiting for an explanation, Misami quickly threw a kunai towards Ranma's face but missed as the teenager jumped to the side. "His Chakra level is above a Jounin's. He must be a spy from either Iwa or Kumo."

Quickly rushing forward Misami engaged Ranma in a taijutsu battle, the former using her clan's style while the latter simply dodged each palm strike sent his way. Mere seconds later, Fujitaka joined in the fight, ignoring the Jounin's shouts of protests as he formed the handseals for a quick technique. As soon as he had a clear shot of Ranma and he was certain Misami won't get in the way, he launched his technique. "Lightning Release: Lightning Shot!" A bolt of lightning burst forth from the palm of his hands, missing Ranma's face by a few inches as he bent backwards to avoid both a palm strike aimed for his chest from the front, and the bolt of lightning from his right side. "Damn, I missed," he swore as he pulled out a kunai and jumped into the fray.

Kurenai sighed as she rubbed the sides of her forehead with two fingers, 'I'm getting too old for this.' She knew that she wouldn't be able to dissuade the two from attacking Ranma so she just sat back to make sure nobody got hurt. It was also a good way to see just what the other two were capable of and how well they worked together. 'Alright you two, let's see how good you really are.'

Opening his mouth, Ranma let out a yawn as he dodged another set of attacks from both fighters. "Are you two done yet?" He asked as he yawned, boredom the dominant tone in his voice. "'Cuz if you are then I'd like to get back to my training."

"Stop acting already," Misami snapped out at him. "We already know you're a spy so just come out with it. After all, no 'Genin' has the Chakra level of someone above Jounin."

"Look, if you look closely maybe you'll notice that it's not Chakra," he replied, lazily avoiding the attacks while still standing in the same place he landed after dodging the kunai she had thrown earlier. "I mean, Hinata-san and Kotoko noticed it. And that other guy, I think his name was Neji, asked me about it yesterday after the fight with Naruto-san so he probably noticed."

"Shut up! Those three aren't true Hyuuga so their opinions don't matter to me. Neji-sama may be the head of our clan but that doesn't mean I have to like it. They changed the ways of the Hyuuga clan and now everybody treats us as equals when we're clearly superior to them. Even the weakest of clans speak to us as equals."

"Isn't that good?" He asked, blinking owlishly as he tried to comprehend the meaning of her words. "I mean, if you look at it from their perspective, what's so good about having people look down on you? I'd say things are better the way they are from the sound of it."

"Don't talk about things that don't concern you, you filthy spy." Unnoticed by the slowly angering Hyuuga, Fujitaka was running through a series of hand seals while hoping that Misami would keep Ranma busy for a while longer. "What would you know about the Hyuuga?"

Ignoring the questions as he knew he wouldn't be able to answer, Ranma tilted his head towards Kurenai with a questioning glance. "I'm not getting out of this without a fight am I?" He asked, already knowing the answer before she shook her head. "Oh well, might as well."

However, before he could move to disable his opponent, Fujitaka had finished the sequence of hand seals and before calling out the technique, yelled a warning. "Misami, get out of the way!" He didn't wait to see if she heard the warning as the Chakra began to pour out of his outstretched hands. "Lightning Release: Great Lightning Barrage!" the Chakra shot out of his hands and into the sky where a second later, it shot down in the form of numerous lightning bolts. When he looked back to the fight, his eyes widened in horror as he noticed that Misami was still attacking Ranma, whose attention was more on the lightning that began to descend upon the two of them. Before he could yell out another warning, the lightning bolts reached ground zero and a loud explosion was heard throughout the training grounds. "MISAMI! NO!"

When the bright light and the smoke had cleared, both teacher and student could only stare in horror at the large crater made up of smaller craters that had appeared where both Ranma and Misami were fighting. "YOU IDIOT!" Fujitaka had expected this much to happen as soon as he saw the empty crater. Surprisingly though, it didn't come from their instructor. Turning to his right where the voice was coming from, he saw a slightly singed Ranma with a horrified but unhurt Misami cradled in his arms. "WHAT THE HELL WE'RE YOU THINKING? YOU COULD HAVE KILLED HER WITH THAT TECHNIQUE!"

"Ranma's right." Turning to his left, he saw Kurenai looking at him with disapproving eyes. "That was a dangerous technique you used."

"B-But I yelled at her to get away. I-It's not my f-fault she didn't hear me."

"It may not be your fault she didn't hear you but you shouldn't even have used that technique to begin with. You're lucky that Ranma saw your technique in time otherwise we'd have two dead people to have to explain to the Hokage."

"W-What?" Ranma looked down to the girl he was carrying as she spoke softly, unheard by the other two as Kurenai was too busy berating Fujitaka and Fujitaka was too busy being berated. "I.. I'm… alive?" Looking up upon realizing she was being held by someone, her white eyes locked onto the storm blue eyes of Ranma. "You saved me? But why? You're a spy aren't you?"

"Well if you attacked me a bit later you would have heard an explanation of who I am. Besides, I know someone back home who's worse than you when it comes to jumping to conclusions. If she were in your place she probably wouldn't have even accused Kurenai-sensei of lying and just attack me straight on from the start. That or she'll just get mad and ignore me until I say something stupid, _then_ attack me."

Misami was obviously confused by this but didn't get the chance to ask as Kurenai walked over to them. "Well, this day didn't go as planned so we'll just meet tomorrow morning. Ranma, I'll expect you to meet us here according to your schedule. Your Genjutsu lessons will have to wait for a while. Maybe a few days, a week at most, while I get this team ready for missions and such." Recalling Ranma's training schedule, she said, "Since you'll be meeting with both Hinata and Sakura next could you take Misami with you? You'll probably find the two of them at the Hyuuga mansion so Misami will be able to show you the way. If not then they might be at the Hospital."

"Alright, if you're sure. See ya around then." Walking away from the training grounds, Ranma said, "Think you can walk alright?" Receiving a nod from his new teammate, he set her down on the ground slowly before walking alongside her as she led the way to the Hyuuga mansion.

Their trip was made in silence, one was silent because his mind was occupied while the other because she didn't know how to approach the topic she wanted to discuss. Several times she had opened her mouth to say something but then closed it. 'Why am I acting like this?' She asked herself, finding it strange that she couldn't ask for one simple request. 'Is it because I'm scared of something? No, it can't be. I'm a Hyuuga. I can't be acting like I'm scared of something.' She opened her mouth again but shut it once more.

"You wanna say something?"

Ranma's voice nearly made her jump at the suddenness of his question. 'Alright, this is your chance,' she told herself. 'Stop acting like a coward and just ask.' Taking a deep breath and mentally preparing herself, she said, "Fight me." Mentally she was kicking herself at what she said. 'Why the hell did I say that?' She asked herself, the memory of what happened earlier surfacing in her mind. While they were fighting, her anger only grew at the boredom in his eyes. But in a split second, that changed. Fiery determination suddenly broke through as he suddenly moved faster than she ever thought possible, picking her up and moving out of the way as the lightning bolts crashed into the ground, her eyes widening in fear at both the thought of being hit by the lightning and what Ranma, the supposed spy, would do now that he captured her as memories of her mother telling her about how Kumo wants the secrets of their Byakugan came to mind.

Now that both Kumo and Iwa are working together, being captured by a ninja from either village meant certain death to any Hyuuga or possibly worse. She was relieved when she realized that Ranma had only saved her instead of kidnapping or killing her as she feared. But a lingering fear was still there at fighting someone who could move as fast as Ranma did. 'He was so fast,' she thought. 'Fast enough to avoid the lightning just before it hit the ground.'

"Huh?"

Ranma's intelligent answer caused her to nearly trip over nothing as her inner embarrassment was forgotten. "What? Are you deaf or something? I asked you to fight me."

"What? You don't count earlier as a fight?"

"No, of course not you idiot," she yelled at him. "All you did was dodge my attacks. You didn't try to hit me back even once so now I'm asking for another fight, one that we'll finish without being interrupted." While she was showing a brave front, inwardly she was still cursing herself at asking him to fight her when what she wanted was something else. 'Great, I just got myself into a fight with someone who moves faster than I can even follow.'

She was about to curse herself again when they almost literally bumped into someone. "Oh, Ranma. Where are you going?"

"Huh? Oh, hi Sakura-san," he greeted upon seeing who it was. "I was on my way to the Hyuuga mansion since Kurenai-sensei told me that you and Hinata-san might be there."

"Oh, you won't find her there. I came to look for you to tell you that we'll be having the lessons at my home today."

"Alright then. Will you be alright?" He asked, the question directed at his companion.

"I'll be fine. I'm a Hyuuga after all so I can take care of myself," she replied with a small glare directed at Ranma, while inside she was relieved that Sakura had come before he could have a chance to accept her request for a fight.

Ranma just shrugged as Sakura began to lead him down a different street. "By the way," he called over his shoulder. "If you want a rematch, I'm ready anytime. Just tell me alright?"

She nodded as he walked off with Sakura. As soon as they were out of sight, she slumped down onto the ground. "Great, what have I gotten myself into?"

_END CHAPTER 2_

**Well, that's the end for this chapter, hope you liked it. **

**Anyway, here's a question. What element should Ranma have an affinity with? Fire, Water, Earth, Lightning or Wind? Before you tell me, you should know there are two conditions. First, only one element. Two, no new elements. I don't like having to make Ranma too special that he'd be practically one of a kind. I also don't like to have a super powered Ranma, as I've said in previous chapters. **

**Asides from that, please click on the 'GO' button at the bottom of the page and tell me what you think of this chapter. Like it? Hate it? Love it? Despise it? Comment? Suggestion? Flames? Criticisms? Any and all is welcome as nothing you say can discourage me, only motivate me to write better, if I can. Don't forget to vote on Ranma's element.**

**Thanks for reading this chapter. Until the next one then. :D**


	13. Arc 2 Chapter 3

Terms of Engagement

Terms of Engagement

By Overlord of Order and Overlord of Chaos

**SUMMARY: What if many of the on-goings involving Genma and Nodoka was all a hoax? What if most of what they've said was a lie? What reason could they have to lie to so many people? What does it have to do with Ranma's future?**

**HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!**

**Sure it's a day late but better late than never. Here are the votes for Ranma's element so far. These votes are those that gave reviews as well as the few who sent it through a PM.**

**Wind – 8**

**Water – 6**

**Fire – 2**

**Lightning – 4**

**Earth – 3**

**No Element – 4**

**And the winning element is Wind. So for all those that wanted Ranma to have any other element, or no elemental affinity at all, sorry. **

_**Ozzallos:**_** Ranma's curse is still there so don't worry about it. He'll actually be revealing it in this chapter. **

_**Virgil: **_**Just so you know, I don't like Sasuke that much either. As for that being the end of the Uchiha Clan, well, I'll let you figure that out on your own. Either way, you'll still be seeing the Sharingan in action. Just not from Kakashi. **

_**Liek Traum: **_**Thanks for that review. Not too messed up so it's alright with me. As for the grammatical errors, I guess I just got used to doing it that way. Maybe in future chapters but not too soon. As for Ranma teaching the ninjas how to use Chi, he might teach them if I feel like writing it in. But that's a big maybe so you'll just have to wait and see.**

**We'll be sure to work hard on this fic to keep up with your expectations and to finish it instead of leaving it hanging. It might take us longer to update from here for a while because we have to come up with a few techniques as well as what to name them so it might take a while. Anyway, here's the third chapter for the second arc. ENJOY!!**

_Arc 2: Ninja Training_

_Chapter 3: Memory Lane and More Curses_

"G-g-g-get it a-a-away from m-m-me."

"What for? It's not like it's going to kill you."

"H-h-h-hey! I s-s-said g-g-get it a-a-way f-f-from me."

"Misami, that's enough," said Kurenai, worried about the look on Ranma's face. She had never seen him so scared before, even when he had placed him under a powerful Genjutsu, nothing she could think of scared the boy. Even if someone had told him that he was weak and would never succeed, he would get mad and attack the Genjutsu. And as she soon discovered, he knew how to direct his anger and rage into fueling his attacks, driving him to become more powerful instead of losing focus. If anything, he was more dangerous when enraged.

Misami smirked but moved away nonetheless from the quivering form of Ranma, who was curled up in a fetal position, covering his face to keep himself from seeing the object in Misami's hands. After much coaxing on Kurenai's part, as well as having to comfort the frightened teenager, Ranma stood up shakily, trying not to look in Misami's direction as she grinned wickedly at the reaction she got from Ranma. 'Who'd have thought,' she said in her mind. 'That someone like him would be so scared of a little cat.'

"Are you alright?" Asked Kurenai, slightly concerned over the way Ranma had reacted to the pair of cats their team was requested to find. "I don't believe this. Not a single Genjutsu I could think of could scare you and yet you have what could possibly be the worst case of ailurophobia I've ever seen. "

"Y-yeah, that's what the doc told me back home too when he saw my reaction," came the reply as Ranma got up shakily, still eyeing the cats held by Misami warily. "I'm guessing you wanna know why I'm scared of 'em huh?"

"If it's alright with you that is."

Sighing heavily, Ranma nodded but said, "Let's just get that stupid furball back to the tower. It gives me the creeps just being near one even if I can't see it."

It didn't take them long to get the cats back to Naruto's office and back to their owner. Seeing as there weren't any more simple missions for their team to do, Naruto dismissed them and told Ranma that neither Hinata nor Sakura would be able to tutor him that day because of several patients in critical condition they would have to take care of. Because of this they would most likely be busy trying to save them or monitoring their recovery. "That's fine," he replied casually but warily, still eyeing the cats in the room with him. "Gives me more time ta figure out how ta undo the damn thing Happosai did ta me."

Naruto just laughed it off saying, "I'm sure you'll figure it out. As I'm sure you've heard already, you're a lot like myself when I was younger. And if that's true then you'll figure it out sooner or later. Maybe you'll even break out of it in a way that not even Happosai expected you to." The team left along with the client and as soon as they did, Naruto said to himself, "Either that or you'll find a way around it without having to break through Happosai's barrier."

As they left the tower and walked towards the training grounds, Ranma could only think back to the past week. His first week of training flew by quicker than he could imagine and he soon found himself learning a lot of new things in a week than the past few years. He had learned the three basic techniques in terms of ninjutsu and was learning several basic techniques of each element just to give him some variety. His Chakra Control was average but he was working on that with some tree climbing. Medic training was easier as he already had a vast knowledge of the human body, having gotten used to exploiting the weaknesses of the human body in fights. Even healing with his Chakra was relatively simple since he would do the same thing with Chi from time to time.

Tracking and Stealth was something he really had to work on at that moment. Hiding from Neji's eyes was easy at first as he didn't use his Byakugan. But after the first night, Ranma had to learn how to hide everything, including his Chakra. He had tried the Umi-Sen-Ken but unfortunately, Neji had spotted the weakness that he himself had spotted, a blank spot in the air, and had promptly revealed him. Kiba had done the same, only he had found him by following Ranma's scent. Tracking went about the same way and went hand in hand with stealth. As he learned how to track people down, he learned how to hide himself better. While his sense of smell wasn't as good as Kiba's, he could still sense and, if he concentrated enough, see the energy in a way similar to Neji's Byakugan.

The first Saturday he spent in Konoha was somewhat tiring for Ranma. He had helped out at the restaurant Ayame and her father, Teuchi, owned as he had promised. After that he had lunch and proceeded to the training grounds for his five hour sparring session with the Jounins. However, being his first session, it was more like a quick test to see how far he had progressed. As Naruto told him, he limited himself to using only Chakra-based techniques as well as his own abilities.

But of course for each session, there was a certain condition. Against Kakashi, he had to try to beat him using the limited amount of Ninjutsu in his arsenal. Kurenai's session was simply to break out of each Genjutsu then try to place her under one as well without her noticing. Hinata's session was to attack only the parts of the human body that she would dictate, attacking the clone that she would supply as none of them wanted to be his punching bag after seeing his fight with Naruto. It was the last session of that day that got him excited as he was put up against someone who he would fight against in hand-to-hand combat.

_FLASHBACK_

"Ranma." Turning around, Ranma came face to face with they white eyes of Neji, the Head of the Hyuuga Clan. "I'd like you to meet someone who I'm sure you'd get along with." Stepping out from behind Neji was a man, whose appearance shocked Ranma. The man, who was wearing a green spandex bodysuit, had thick eyebrows and a bowl cut, the latter reminding Ranma of the punishment that the nutty principal of Furinkan high would use. "Ranma, this is Lee, my self-proclaimed rival. Lee, this is Ranma, the taijutsu specialist Naruto went off to find last month."

"Ah, I feel the youthful energy within him already," said the man, the way he spoke sending out a strange feeling towards Ranma. "But why did you bring me here? Did you perhaps want him to witness a fight between two eternal rivals?"

Neji only shook his head in reply before placing a hand on both Lee and Ranma's shoulder. "Lee, I think perhaps that you would be better off without me as a rival." Before Lee could say anything in protest, Neji leaned over and whispered something in Lee's ear before pulling away.

"Of course," Lee suddenly cried out before pointing a finger at Ranma. "Fight me!"

"Huh?"

Before Ranma knew it, Neji was gone from between the two of them and the last thing he saw was Lee's fist coming towards his face. As he was sent flying through two trees behind him, the other Jounins turned towards Neji, who was watching the fight with a look of relief. "What exactly did you tell Lee?" Asked Sakura.

"I told him that instead of just testing his hardwork against a genius, he should make Ranma his rival seeing as Ranma is both a genius in a fight and a hardworker as well." He was silent before he said, seeming genuinely happy as he said the next statement. "Finally after almost 30 years, I don't have to worry about him calling me his eternal rival, having to fight him during the most inconvenient times and listening to him talk about the flames of youth."

Everyone around him could only sweatdrop at that statement but could sympathize with his situation, especially Kakashi, whose 'eternal rival' was Lee's own instructor, Gai. And just as with Lee and Neji, Gai had wanted to prove to Kakashi that hardworkers will be able to surpass a genius.

Looking back to the fight, the saw Ranma getting up rather shakily, shaking his head to get out of the daze he was put into by that one punch. "Damn, he hits harder than Ryoga," he commented to himself as he walked back to the clearing. He saw that his opponent was waiting for him in a stance, one hand behind his back, ready to come at him once again. He grinned as he too dropped into a stance. "This should be fun."

_END FLASHBACK_

The fight that ensued was one that Ranma would never forget. Unlike his fight with Naruto, this fight was purely one-on-one and completely hand-to-hand, which surprised Ranma as he had expected Lee to use a technique on him, which would have put him at a disadvantage due to his Chi still being sealed up inside him. The battle was one that was only to be decided by their strength, speed, stamina, resilience and most importantly, skill. Needless to say that Lee obviously won the battle when it came to brute strength. Their speed was somewhat even as well as their stamina. When it came down to it, Ranma was more resilient to damage due to his fights with Ryoga and daily encounters with Akane's mallet. Because Lee was physically stronger, Ranma was glad to be able to withstand those powerful punches and kicks that were far more powerful than Ryoga's own.

What surprised Ranma the most was that he had found someone whose skills in hand-to-hand combat were simply incredible. While they fought, Ranma slowly found himself loosing at first. It was slow progress but he noticed it early on. It was only when Lee had knocked Ranma into the air to execute something he called the Initial Lotus that Ranma gained a slight advantage. Before Lee could even initiate the start of the technique, he was pummeled by numerous punches and kicks from Ranma that sent him flying and crashing to the ground. Before the fight could escalate further than that, the other Jounins called a stop to the fight, knowing that there was a chance it could get out of hand if those two were to continue and their worries didn't include one of the two fighters getting hurt.

Lee had left soon after that, but not before declaring Ranma as his new eternal rival and thanking Neji for introducing him to Ranma. Just before he left, he handed Ranma a wrapped package and gave him a pose before leaving. Upon opening the package, Ranma found a bodysuit not unlike Lee's own. Before anyone could say anything, Ranma closed the package once more and shuddered slightly at the thought of wearing it, causing the others to give a sigh of relief. When they asked him of his opinion about the fight he said, "Best fight I've had in years."

It didn't take long before the new Team 4 to arrive at their training area where they all turned to Ranma, awaiting his explanation regarding his reaction to the cats. Not wanting to talk about his past much, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small booklet, wordlessly handing it over to Kurenai before walking to the center of the clearing to once again attempt to break Happosai's barrier. Reading through the manual, Kurenai, Fujitaka and Misami turned pale and slightly green at the thought of someone going through the training known as the Cat-fist training. It was only when they neared the end did they realize what it had to do with Ranma's fear of cats.

Ranma didn't need to open his eyes to know their reactions as he could feel the change in their auras. "Pops really is an idiot," he said, answering the unasked question of who had put him through the training. "He didn't even bother to read the entire manual before trying it out on me. And to answer the question you asked me the other day, that's where I got the scars from."

Whatever reaction Ranma had expected, being hugged from behind wasn't one of them. "Nobody should have to go through that," came the comforting voice of Kurenai. "Not even Naruto's childhood was as bad as something like this. At least he wasn't traumatized by his past."

Having very little experience when it came to situations like this, Ranma just tried his best to calm her down. 'At least she isn't crying,' he thought. "Don't worry about it. It's just my luck that I end up with someone like him and training like that. Besides, what doesn't kill me just makes me stronger right?"

"If you ask me this training just made you weaker." Unsurprisingly, this came from Misami. "Not only are you now scared of cats-"

"DON'T SAY THAT WORD!"

"-But you didn't learn the technique as well. If you ask me that just made you weaker." Both Kurenai and Fujitaka awaited Ranma's reply as the inevitable argument was once again about to begin. Instead of giving a sharp retort as he always did, Ranma stood from the ground, gently removing Kurenai's arms away from him with a small smile. As he began to walk away, Misami spoke once more. "Hey, don't just ignore me. I'm talking to you."

"Look, I don't want to talk about it alright?" Came Ranma's icy reply. Just as he did, the trio close to him shivered as a sudden coldness enveloped the area. "I need some time alone. Kurenai-sensei, could you tell everyone that I might skip the rest of my training for today?" She nodded and Ranma nodded gratefully in return. "Thanks. I guess I'll see you tomorrow then."

As he walked off, Misami couldn't help but feel guilty at what she'd done. She had just learned something about Ranma's past, one that shocked her upon finding out what had been done to him and who had done it. It was obviously something painful for him, not only because of the fear of cats it put into him, but because of all the people who could have put him through such a traumatic event, it had to be his father. She was contemplating whether to run after him and apologize for what she said or to give him some space and apologize later on.

She got her answer when Kurenai turned to her and shook her head, obviously having seen the conflict in her eyes. "Give him some time for now," she said. "For now the two of you should get back to training."

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No more than ten minutes later, Ranma soon found himself sitting atop what he had been told was known as the Hokage monument. He was looking down upon Konoha like one of the heads carved into the mountain side, almost as though he were one of the Hokages who were watching over the village like it was his own to protect. As he sat there, thinking, he asked himself the one question he had been asking himself and others all his life. And to that day, he has yet received an answer he could accept. "Why? Why does everything seem to happen to me?"

Having already known that somebody was there with him, he turned around and came face to face with the person whose head he was sitting on. "You know," Naruto began, walking over and sitting down beside Ranma. "I used to ask myself the same question back when I was young. And like you, I still haven't found the answer." He paused for a moment, leaning back and lying on his back. "So, what happened that you'd suddenly skip out on your training? I came to look for you to tell you that Hinata and Sakura are going to be able to give you your lesson and I find you running through Konoha. From the way Happosai talked about you only a few things could pull you away from training. Is it about what you just asked me?"

Ranma nodded, lying down as well atop the stone head. "It's like no matter what I do, something always goes wrong. My curse, the Cat-fist, countless fiancées and rivals, ghosts, demons and other stuff. It's like trouble follows me even when I'm not even doing anything. Almost like somebody doesn't want me to be happy or something."

"Don't worry so much about it. Everybody goes through something like this at some point of their lives. Just our luck that it seems to pick on us more."

"Whaddya mean 'us'? What happened with you?"

"Well, it's not like it's a big secret or anything since the entire village knows. Of course the story is a bit long." Seeing Ranma nod from the corner of his eye, Naruto began the tale. "It all started over 40 years ago during the last war against Iwa. Back then the Yondaime Hokage was in charge of the village after being handed the position by the Sandaime. The Yondaime was known as the Yellow Flash of Konoha, feared by the Iwa-nins because of his abilities, specifically the Flying Thunder God technique."

"Flying Thunder God technique?"

"That's right. With the use of specially made kunai, he could summon himself to where that kunai was. Not the kind of summoning we demonstrated last week but more like being taken to where the kunai is at an extreme speed. Because of his hair color, all they could see was a streak of yellow as he was called to where the kunai was. He would have the ninjas he was leading throw the kunai they had into the ranks of the enemy, even if they missed them. Once the kunai have all been thrown, he would use his technique to travel to one of the kunai and kill those that got in his way. Right after appearing he would travel to another kunai and keep on doing so while the other ninjas would pick them off from a distance with other kunai, shuriken and long range techniques."

"Uh… not to be rude but, what does this have to do with what happened to you?"

"I'm getting to that. Anyway, needless to say that Konoha won that war. The victory was short however. A few years later, a demon attacked Konoha. Are you familiar with the story of the tailed beasts?" Ranma shook his head in reply. "There are nine powerful demons, each one having one tail more than the other with the lowest at one. The more tails the demon had, the more powerful it was. Care to take a guess how many tails the demon that attacked Konoha had?"

"One with ten tails?"

Naruto stared at Ranma for a moment, wanting to ask if he had been listening only to understand what he meant before laughing out loud. "Your luck's that bad huh? Well, no it wasn't that bad for Konoha but it was still bad. A giant nine-tailed fox began to make its way towards Konoha. Not even the Yondaime along with all of the ninjas available was able to stop it. No matter what they did it, whether they cut it hundreds of times, cut off a limb or tail, or stab it in the eye or head, it healed every injury. Every cut was sealed as soon as it was made and every limb or tail that was cut off grew back. It was only when the battle got dangerously close to Konoha did they finally stop it."

"How'd they kill it?"

"They didn't kill it. They sealed it away. The Yondaime called upon Shinigami, the Death God, summoning it with the use of a sealing technique. By using that technique you could seal away the soul of someone or in this case, something, and seal it away at the cost of your own soul. The Yondaime knew, however, that the soul of the Kyuubi could not be contained, even within the Death God. Sealing it in any object wouldn't work either and sealing it away into his own body would be pointless seeing as he would die, releasing the soul of the Kyuubi as well. Besides, because the Chakra coils of an adult would have been fully developed already, that person would die if the Kyuubi was sealed into that person."

"So he did the only thing he could do." There was a faraway look in Naruto's eyes and Ranma could see that he had conflicting thoughts regarding that particular event. "By sealing it away into the body of a newborn, the Kyuubi's chakra would eventually integrate itself into that child's body. As the child grew, the child would eventually absorb the Kyuubi's chakra, and therefore eventually making the Kyuubi weak enough to be killed should it somehow escape it's prison."

"And I'm guessing that you're the Kyuubi's prison, right?"

"Right."

"Is the Kyuubi weak enough yet?"

Sadly, Naruto shook his head in reply. "No, not yet. One thing I learned a few years back is that each succeeding tail does not contain the same amount of power as the last. Let's say that the first is worth the same amount of power that someone about ANBU or a Kage level ninja would normally have. I don't know how much of a difference there is between the first and the second tail. The second tail could be double the first or possibly exponentially greater than the first. Even if I knew, I wouldn't know how much power the third tail would have. The fox won't budge and still doesn't want to tell me how much power he has left. Because of that I don't dare let him out until I'm sure I have at least half his Chakra inside me."

"So, why'd your own father seal him up inside you and not just someone else?"

"Well he-" Naruto paused, realizing what Ranma had said. "How'd you know he was my father?"

"He is?" Asked Ranma, the look of genuine surprise on his face. "Wow, I was just guessing. I mean, I saw a picture of him in the hallway at the tower and I was wondering if you were related to him in any way. I didn't think he really was your old man."

"Old man? Others would probably kill you if they found out you were calling the Yondaime my 'old man'," said Naruto with a light chuckle. "But anyway, think about it this way. If you were in his place, would you ask one of the villagers to let their child be a demon container? Although he wanted me to be seen as a hero, he knew that people fear those that they don't understand and even then he sealed the Kyuubi into me anyway. Personally I hate him for that, but if I look at the bigger picture I could see why he did that. It was either he sealed it into me, seal it into the body of a villager's child, or just be selfish, save your family and let the Kyuubi destroy Konoha."

"I was hated as I grew up," he continued to explain and Ranma could feel a small amount of anger and hatred coming from Naruto. "People treated me as though I was the Kyuubi's reincarnation and not its container. I had to prove that I was just a regular person with more power at my disposal than others. It was only during the war against the Sound did I finally prove myself to everyone. Of course, that's a different story."

Ranma shut his eyes for a moment as he thought about it. "Well, I'll leave you to think about things," said Naruto. "I've got someone to talk to otherwise I wouldn't have come looking for you just to tell you that Sakura and Hinata were free for your lesson."

With that Naruto disappeared in a flurry of leaves, leaving Ranma alone to think once again as he began to drift off to sleep. "Even after all that, I'm still at square one."

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"How far have we pushed them back?"

"They have traveled across half the continent and seem to have no intention of stopping. According to our spies, they are currently traveling to a place called China."

Looking around, Ranma found himself in the encampment of what he assumed was that of the demons' as he could see the shadowy form of Ballog, in front of him was someone who appeared to be his subordinate. "China? I see."

"Shall we send out some soldiers to catch them in a pincer?"

"No. Send out the second, third and fourth squad of the first group to the borders of that country and await them in between the humans' position and the outposts in that area. Send word to the second battalion and have them await the humans at the entrance of the mountains to the north of the outposts where the humans will no doubt pass through in hopes of slowing us down. Make sure that they do not reveal their position until the last possible moment." Ballog paused for a moment before he said, "Contact Lord Zoran and inform him of this as well as to prepare another battalion in order to attack the humans once they reach the attack point."

"Understood, Commander Ballog."

The demon walked out of the tent, Ranma soon found himself alone with Ballog inside the tent. "So," Ballog began, causing Ranma to wonder who the demon was talking to as he wasn't physically there and he couldn't see anybody else. "What brings you here? It must be really important if all of you are here at the same time."

To his side stood a small group of demons, all of them radiating an aura of power that individually dwarfed that of Saffron's. But not even all of them together matched that of Ballog's aura. Ranma couldn't tell how many there were exactly due to the lack of light but he guessed that there were around three or four of them. One of them stepped forward and into the dim light, allowing Ranma to see who it was. It was a female that he had never seen before. However, 'She looks… familiar,' was all he could think as he saw her face. He couldn't quite place where he had seen someone like her before but he was certain he saw someone resembling her somewhere.

"It looks like things are going according to plan," she began. "Thanks to Seera we were able to retrieve the human you wanted. Just as you said, she was locked inside the room with only one person outside it. Even your prediction as to who it would be was correct. While she put up little resistance her guard seemed not only willing to let her be taken but said that you would be expecting her as well."

"I see, so that is why you are all here. Well, just so you know there is no need to worry about either of them. I'll handle it from here."

They all seemed to nod as they disappeared into the shadows the same way Ballog would, leaving behind two people. Upon seeing who one of them was, Ranma was caught off guard and had he been able to move he would have fallen over from the shock. Standing there, holding an unconscious girl around the age of eight in her arms, was Belinda. "Now that you have both of us here I expect you to keep your end of the bargain and take care of her," said Belinda, speaking with a slightly commanding tone that seemed sad as well.

"So long as you do what I ask just like you said you would," Ballog replied in a way that made Ranma feel as though he didn't care at all.

"I'll keep my end of the bargain so long as you stick to yours," she replied as she set the girl down on the cot off to the side of the tent opposite Ranma. "Now then," she began, the tone of her voice similar to one who had lost a battle. "What do you want me to do?"

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When Ranma awoke, he had the look of utter shock on his face. 'She actually did it,' he kept thinking over and over again in shock as he recalled the dream. In his shock, he didn't realize somebody coming up from behind him until they called out to him by name. He was surprised when someone called out to him from right behind him that he spun around too quickly and lost his balance.

His visitor, Misami, realized what happened and reached out to grab Ranma's outstretched hand. She succeeded but unfortunately, Ranma was much too heavy for her and they both ended up falling down the front of the Hokage monument. As their fall began, Misami began to panic. As good as she was, even she knew she couldn't possibly land from that height without breaking a few bones at her current level.

Looking back down towards the oncoming ground, her thoughts quickly changed. 'Then again, a few broken bones are better than dying.' Due to her panic however, trying to maneuver herself into a position where she would get hurt the least only ended up with her entangling herself more with the one she had tried to save in the first place.

Ranma, upon feeling someone moving about along with him, snapped out of his shock and quickly assessed the situation. 'Ok, I've got Misami tangled up with me and we're falling down to the ground.' After a split second, his eyes widened as he realized what he had just told himself. 'Falling to the ground? Great, just great. Not enough time to land properly. This is gonna hurt.' Quickly untangling himself from Misami, he quickly held her tightly and placed himself between her and the ground just as the impact came.

Having fallen from such a height, Misami had expected to be hurting just about everywhere. Instead, she only felt sore as the impact passed through Ranma's body and upon reaching her, was no more painful than a simple slap. The lack of pain made her slowly open her eyes, which she had unknowingly shut during her descent. Opening her eyes fully, she was surprised to not only see that she was not at the hospital, but also feel someone's arms wrapped around her. Pulling away from whoever was holding her, she finally managed to see what had happened. Seeing Ranma's body slightly embedded into the ground, she came to only one conclusion. 'He… he saved me. Again.'

Kneeling down beside Ranma's body, she activated her Byakugan to check for any serious injuries. She was surprised to find that asides from the scars they had seen on his back when training, he was perfectly fine. There was not a single scratch on him. No sign of broken bones or any type of serious injury at all. 'Who… what is he?' She asked herself, deactivating her Byakugan as she pulled Ranma out of the ground. 'Nobody I know could get out of that kind of fall without so much as a scratch.'

She moved him to the side of the mountain and placed him against the mountainside in a sitting position as she waited for him to regain consciousness. 'He doesn't look hurt so he should be up in a few minutes. After that he's going to answer a few questions whether he likes it or not.'

As she waited, time passed until five minutes went by. Five became ten, which became fifteen. She was just about to lose her patience when thunder rumbled overhead, signaling that it would soon rain. As though the thunder was a signal, Ranma began to stir. Stretching his arms high above his head, he let out a yawn as he stood. "Man, that was a good nap." He looked to his right and saw Misami standing there, a look of anger on her face. "Huh? Did something happen?"

Misami's face met the ground painfully as she heard his words. 'How the hell could he forget something like falling off the Hokage monument?' She got up and opened her mouth to yell at Ranma when the rain began to fall. Her already open mouth only opened wider at the sight she witnessed. She rubbed her eyes just to make sure that she wasn't hallucinating. 'Did I really see that?' She asked herself as Ranma began to curse at the rain. 'Did… Did he just shrink? No, he didn't just shrink. He… turned into a girl.'

Once Ranma-chan had finished cursing the rain, she reached into her sleeve and pulled out an umbrella, opened it and turned to Misami, who was still busy gaping at her. "Look Misami," she began, glad that Misami snapped back to attention as soon as she said her name. "I'll explain later. Let's just get out of the rain first before we catch a cold, alright?"

Misami nodded but wasn't aware of it as she joined Ranma-chan under the umbrella as they began to walk to a place where they could dry off. As they walked together, Misami was still staring at Ranma-chan, questions running through her head about what just happened. 'He… he was using Transformation? No, it can't be. Rain doesn't dispel the technique and it should have been dispelled when he was knocked out. Just who are you? And, why do I have this strange feeling inside, almost as though I know you?'

Misami continued to stare at Ranma-chan for the duration of the trip until they made it back to the Hyuuga mansion where Ranma-chan decided to take Misami to seeing as she was all wet from standing in the rain after she had woken up. "Well," Ranma-chan began. "We're here. Let's get you inside before I answer your questions. Your parents are probably worried about you."

She finally snapped out of her shock as Ranma began to walk towards the front gates of the mansion, which was being guarded by two Hyuuga Clan members standing underneath their own umbrellas. The one closer to the pair, noticed them approaching and saw Misami immediately, her clothes and her eyes giving her identity away to him. "Ah, there you are," he began, speaking as soon as they got close enough to hear him. "Your mother has been looking for you since you didn't return for your afternoon training session. You should go inside and explain to her where you were before she becomes even more worked up."

Misami only nodded in return as the guards opened the gate for both she and Ranma-chan to pass through. The walk up to the mansion was quick and soon they found themselves standing outside the front door. "So do we knock or do you just go on inside?"

Misami nearly jumped, having been startled out of her thoughts once again by Ranma-chan's voice. Not really trusting her voice to say the right things, she simply opened the door and walked in followed closely by Ranma-chan. "Misami?" Turning around, the pair came face to face with both Hinata and Sakura. "What took you so long? Your mother's been looking for you. And who's your new friend?"

As they got closer to the two, Hinata finally recognized the red-haired girl standing behind Misami. "Ranma? That is you, right?"

"Yeah, it's me," Ranma-chan replied, much to the surprise of the other two females. "I just need some hot water to change back. That way it'll be easier to explain this to you three."

Before the younger Hyuuga could say anything, Hinata spoke up. "Alright then. I'll take Misami and help her dry off. Sakura, could you show Ranma to the nearest bathroom? I didn't have time to show him around the last time he was here."

"Sure. Follow me Ranma." All four of them walked up the main staircase but the two Hyuugas turned right while Sakura led Ranma-chan down to the left. "Is that really you?" Sakura asked once Misami was out of earshot. "I heard something weird about you turning into a girl but I thought you just used an illusion of some kind."

"Yeah, I'll explain it later. I should have known this was gonna happen sooner or later. I just didn't expect it to be this late though."

"What? Turning into a girl or having to reveal the reason?"

"Both actually," she sighed, "Usually I can't go for a single day without turning into a girl at least a few times and I've been here for a week already. And when something like this happens, it usually means something bad is gonna happen soon. My luck's never this good for so long. And the longer I don't change, the bigger the bad news is."

They eventually reached a bathroom where Ranma-chan dried off with a towel with Sakura standing outside the door to make sure nobody went in seeing as Ranma-chan might want some privacy. A few minutes later, Ranma-chan came out, completely dry without a single sign that she had gotten wet in the first place. Walking back downstairs, they found Hinata and Misami already waiting for them, sitting on a long sofa. "Well Ranma, care to explain this to us? I've been wondering how you were able to do that since that fight against Naruto. You said something along the line of a curse or condition."

"Yeah, that's what I said," Ranma-chan replied, pulling a thermos out of her sleeve once more. "It's something I picked up on my training trip almost two years ago. Pops and I went to a place called Jusenkyo to train. Jusenkyo is a valley found back home. The place is full of these small springs with lots of bamboo poles sticking out of them. Unfortunately," she continued almost sadly. "The springs are cursed from a long time ago,"

"Cursed? How?" asked Sakura, a little skeptical about having to hear about curses.

"I don't know exactly how it happened, just that the springs supposedly claimed the soul of whatever drowned there. Pops fell into a pool where a panda drowned so whenever he gets his with cold water, he turns into a panda."

"And you fell into a pool where a girl drowned so you turn into a girl?"

"Yeah, that's right," she nodded. "Basically I turn into a girl version of myself. This is what I would look like if I was born as a girl instead." Uncapping the top of the thermos and standing up from her seat, she said. "Hot water turns me back to my original form." She poured out some hot water from the thermos and everybody watched, fascinated, as Ranma-chan's form gained more mass, mostly in the form of muscles, and her hair darkened until once again, a male Ranma was standing in front of them. "Before you ask, I was born a guy and only my body changes, not the way I think. Ain't no way I'm ever gonna like guys in that way."

"So you're basically a boy in a girl's body when you change?" Misami asked, to which Ranma nodded in return, to which Misami couldn't help ponder something. "Is the change complete?"

"Well, Tofu-sensei did say that I'm as much a woman as the next when I'm in my other form so I guess so."

"I bet you take advantage of that every chance you get," replied Misami as she huffed and turned away. "Just what I need, two perverted boys for teammates."

"Wh-what the… I'm no pervert!"

"Yes you are. Come on, I'm not that stupid. I'm sure like to look at yourself whenever you're alone just like every guy out there would like to see a girl naked."

"Misami!"

For a moment Ramna stood there, stunned at what he was hearing. It took him a while to recover before he slapped his own face, dragging his hand down while muttering, "I don't believe this." Once he composed himself he looked at Misami who was obviously waiting for what he had to say. "Look, first of all I don't take advantage of my curse. Second, what I do with my own body is none of your business. Third, I didn't ask for this and I'd take any chance at getting rid of my curse. I haven't found a cure that works just yet but when I do I'll be saying goodbye to this curse. Why the hell would I wanna turn into a girl anyway?"

"What? Now you're saying being a girl is bad?"

"What the…" Ranma slapped his face once more, quietly asking himself, or perhaps whatever god was listening, why he always seems to meet the weirdest people. "When the hell did I say that?"

"You were asking why you'd want to turn into a girl. What's wrong with being a girl? If you ask me being a girl is so much better than being a boy."

"What's wrong with being a girl? I'm a guy for crying out loud. I was born a guy, raised a guy and will always be a guy if it wasn't for this stupid curse. How would you feel if you had a curse that turned you into a guy?"

It was at that moment that three people came into the room. One was the blonde Hokage of Konoha, the other was the head of the household and strangely enough, Fujitaka happened to be there as well. "What is going on here?!" Demanded Neji, as he looked around to see who was involved in the commotion. He saw Sakura and Hinata and immediately dismissed them as they both didn't seem to be doing anything wrong. It was the younger pair that caught his attention almost as soon as he entered the room due to the fact that the voices he heard were male and female.

Seeing as Ranma was presently and openly glaring at Misami, he quickly deduced that it was them. "What's going on here Misami?" He asked at the same time that Naruto asked the same question only directed towards the other.

"What's going on here Ranma?"

"It's all his/her fault," both members of the accused party replied in unison, both of them pointing their finger at the other. "My fault?" They continued, this time towards each other. "You're the one who started it in the first place."

"That's enough!" Said Neji in a commanding tone as Naruto stepped aside, knowing that when any clan member was involved, the first person to have any say in the situation would be the Clan Head, if the respective Clan Head was there of course. If not, then anyone would be able to step in. Taking a deep breath and letting it out, he turned towards the two people in the room he was sure to be able to trust regarding the situation. "Sakura, Hinata, could you explain to me what just happened?"

After explaining the situation to him, as well as a demonstration of Ranma's curse, Neji turned to Ranma and Misami with a look of disbelief on his face. "That's it?" He asked them, not really expecting an answer. "You two were arguing over whether being male or female was better?" They nodded but kept glaring at each other out of the corner of their eyes. "I don't believe this. Naruto, I think you might be better at handling something like this. I seem to recall you having a similar conversation when we were younger."

Shrugging his shoulder, the blonde man turned his attention to the two in front of him. Recalling how the conversation went when he was younger and how the situation was defused, he said the same thing that was said to him. "Both of you." He grinned slightly at how the two of them seemed to be expecting his answer to side with them as they both leaned towards him ever so slightly. "Just drop it."

"Huh?"

"I said just drop it. There's no reason for you two to be arguing over something to as asinine as this. You could go on arguing for all of time and neither of you would agree with the other even then."

The four adults watched and held their breaths as the pair seemed to glare at each other once again before turning away with a small huff. They let out the breath they were holding in and were honestly relieved that the situation didn't get any worse than it had been. That is, until Fujitaka spoke up. "What? Is that it? Come on Hokage-sama, can't you do better than that? I bet you think guys are better than girls too."

"Well," Naruto began before anyone else could say anything. Without thinking about the possible consequences, he said, "Personally yes, guys are better than girls."

"What?!" Both Hyuuga females yelled out loud after hearing that, both of them glaring at the other male of respective age.

"Care to repeat that Naruto-kun?"

"Well Hinata-chan I…" Naruto paused in the middle of his statement at the look his wife was giving him. He was suddenly reminded of what happened at the arena a week ago. That memory was enough to shut him up as he said, "Uh… I didn't say anything." He shook his head vigorously as he held his hands defensively in front of him.

Hinata grinned victoriously as she sat back down while Naruto backed off. "See?" Misami began, this time looking towards Fujitaka. "Women are obviously better. Even Hokage-sama backed down."

"It's because he's married," Fujitaka replied smoothly. "I don't have to worry about that for a long time. Even then I'm not going to worry about that."

"Well then, why would you say men are better?"

As Fujitaka began to spout out things that Ranma didn't want to listen to, he turned to Naruto and said, "I'll be outside. I've had enough of this back home I sure as hell isn't participating in it here."

"We'll come with you," Naruto, Neji, Hinata and Sakura all said at the same time.

The five of them quickly made their way out of the large building and upon reaching outside, Ranma began looking around. "Is there a place around here I can train?"

Everyone turned to look at him, almost strangely before someone spoke. "Follow me," said Neji, leading the way for Ranma as the five of them proceeded to the practice room. Upon entering, the five of them saw numerous Hyuuga Clan members of different ages sparring against each other or against a practice dummy with several dots on them. Some of them stopped upon seeing Neji but continued with what they were doing as he waved his hand at them to go on. "Will this be enough?"

"Yeah. I don't need a lotta space but thanks anyway."

Walking to a vacant spot, Ranma dropped into the first stance that came to mind and shut his eyes. He then began running through a series of punches and kicks almost seemingly at random as there was no discernable pattern that the four adults could see. The speed at which he was doing so looked to be about the same as an average civilian but as they continued to watch, his speed gradually grew.

Unknown to the group, Ranma was unaware of his gradual change in speed as his mind was still preoccupied by the dream, or rather the vision, that he got earlier. If what he was seeing was really the future then regardless of the fact that he was helping them as well as some of them coming back stronger from the future, they were still losing. 'Are they really that strong?' He asked himself, remembering the feeling of power he got when he saw Ballog and the other demons inside the tent.

It was hard to believe that even with knowledge of what is to come, they were losing and from the sound of things they were losing quite badly. Ranma was one to enjoy fighting, especially against overwhelming odds. But that only held true when it was only his life at stake. He cannot fully enjoy the battle when there are others to worry about, especially if he cared for those people who are in danger. Time and time again he has faced seemingly impossible odds only to come out on top one way or another. But a war against demons?

After seeing what he had seen he knew that every time both sides would meet it would be an uphill battle for the humans because of several reasons. For one thing, demons are usually born with their powers while humans have to work hard to earn it. Even those humans who are born with special abilities have to work hard otherwise having that power is useless. Most demons only care about killing and have no qualms with taking an innocent life. Also, they couldn't care less what happened to their fellow demons. Humans are flawed, in a way, because there are those who would give their lives to save that of others. Because of this even though the demon failed to kill one, they sometimes managed to kill another instead. Either way, somebody was killed or at least, heavily injured.

These thoughts were running through Ranma's head as he continued to punch and kick at the air, his speed still increasing as he analyzed the best way to approach a war between humans and demons. Unknown to him, just about everybody in the room was paying close attention to him, their own training forgotten for the moment. He had gotten to the point where every punch and kick he delivered created a sharp cutting sound in the air, akin to the sound of a sword as it cuts through the air. His arms and legs were nothing more than a blur whenever he attacked, his body and his head being the only parts of him constantly visible.

When Ranma suddenly launched himself up into the air, everyone watched in awe at the amazing display of mid-air combat they were witnessing. Even his descent seems to have slowed down to a point where it took him a minute or so to land from a height of about ten feet. Soon, there was a large group watching Ranma's display of martial arts, about half of them having been the group that was training. Just then Misami and Fujitaka walked in, curious as to why there were many Hyuuga Clan members rushing towards the training room. They entered just as Ranma leapt into the air, engaging an invisible opponent in mid-air.

They too, watched in awe at Ranma's display of martial arts. Although his limbs were a blur, many, if not all, of the people in the room could easily follow his movements. Some felt that they were watching a dance, each punch and kick gracefully executed and flowing into the next attack without any delay. When he landed on the ground once again, everybody noticed that he seemed to have no problem with his balance and coordination, even with his eyes closed like they were.

Ranma's high speed performance came to a change about five minutes later. Instead of slowing down Ranma continued to speed up as he stopped worrying about the demons. The look on his face became more relaxed as he continued to speed up until he was nothing more than a blur. After about a minute, he began to slow down until he eventually stopped completely, standing in the stance he had used in the beginning. His eyes were still closed and when he opened it his vision was filled with numerous pale-eyed, black haired people, all of them looking at him. "Uh…" He didn't really know why they were watching him but with numerous white eyes all staring at him, he couldn't help but feel uncomfortable.

He then heard the sound of someone chuckling and turned around to see Naruto standing amongst the countless Hyuuga just as they began to clap their hands. "Looks like you managed to impress a majority of the Hyuuga Clan Ranma," he said, clapping his hands as well to show what he thought of Ranma's display of martial arts. "As much as I'd like to watch you train, I have to get back to the tower but before I go I want you to take this."

Looking down, Ranma saw that Naruto was holding a scroll in his hands. "Open it after you find out what your elemental affinity is. That way you'll know which techniques you should learn first. Also, as soon as Kakashi clears you on Chakra Control come see me. Anyway, I'll see you around."

With that, Naruto left to return to his work as Neji ushered the Hyuuga Clan members back to their training. Once there was enough room, Misami and Fujitaka quickly made their way to Ranma. "Hey Ranma." Turning around, Ranma saw the pair walking over to him. "You turn into a girl, right?" He didn't know why Fujitaka was asking him that, seeing as he saw a demonstration earlier, but nodded just the same. "Since you've been both a boy and a girl, would you care to explain to Misami why being a boy is better?"

Upon hearing this, Hinata, Sakura and Neji began to make their way to Ranma in an effort to stop what they knew would break out into an argument, a loud and pointless one at that. They were too late however as Ranma had already begun to speak. "Well, it all depends actually," he began. The way he spoke and the words he spoke made the adults curious as to what Ranma would say. "You're a guy so of course being a guy is better while to Misami being a girl is better."

"Yeah but that's not what I meant. I mean, if you could choose to be a boy or a girl before you were born, which would you choose?"

Sakura began to move towards the trio again only to be stopped by one hand on each of her shoulder, each hand coming from either Hyuuga standing behind her. Turning around, she saw them both listening intently as they motioned for her to do the same. "Well, let's see. I don't really know why but girls are more well… feminine. In a way I guess even I become more feminine when I turn into a girl. I'm a lot more open with my feelings as a girl than as a guy where I'm usually trying not to show any emotion. It's really bad to keep it all in and let me tell ya, I learned that the hard way."

"So being a girl is better because we're more open with our emotions?" Asked Misami while she smirked and looked over at Fujitaka with a victorious grin.

"I dunno. I mean, girls are pretty moody from time ta time," he said, remembering the times when he, or rather she, was in that situation.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Asked both Misami and Sakura at the same time, both curious and the latter shocked that Ranma would say something like that so casually.

"What I mean is that girls seem to get moody once a month. Heck, even I get moody at that time of the month." It was at that statement that the females in the group understood what Ranma was talking about. Even Neji understood it as a look of realization popped up onto his face. Fujitaka however, didn't understand a word of it and expressed this concern. However, Ranma didn't seem to have any intention of telling him. He simply smirked and said, "I'll tell you when you're older."

His reply caused the others to snicker. Hinata, however, heard and remembered what Ranma just said. "Is your change that complete?" She asked, genuinely curious at the extent of Ranma's curse. After all, she was a medical ninja. What medical ninja would pass up the opportunity to learn about a transformation condition, especially one as complete as this? As far as she knew, not even Naruto's transformation was that complete. And his form when under a Transformation didn't waver when touched. It actually felt real, showing just how much Chakra was put into the technique.

"Yeah. Actually, it's pretty funny now that I think about it. It was back when I was still keeping the secret of my curse a secret from my mom and pretending to be Ranko Tendo. I stayed a girl since she saw me in that form already and since she was staying over at the Tendos for about a week, I stayed a girl for a week too. Once she left, I grabbed some hot water and poured it on myself to change back. Only when I did, I started screaming in pain and rolling on the floor clutching myself down there. I accidentally rolled onto the table and the glass of water spilled on me, changing me back to a girl."

"I looked down to see why it was so damn painful when I saw blood on my clothes. I pulled down my clothes and when I saw blood coming from down there I started screaming 'I'm gonna die!' over and over again until Kasumi came into the room and saw what was happening. She explained ta me what was going on and I was really relieved that I wasn't actually gonna die." He paused for a while as the memory came to him, causing him to laugh at the memory. "Whoever says girls are weak must be crazy. I'd like ta see them go through that every month."

"So you're really saying that being a girl is better?"

"No, I just said girls are stronger than some guys give them credit for. Personally I'd rather stay a guy than go through that every month. Unfortunately I don't have a choice in the matter as I have to stay a girl for a while at least once a month."

"So being a guy is better?"

"That depends. Based on my life so far, a lot of guys tend to say what's on their minds without thinking of the consequences. Heck, even I do that and I get into a lot of trouble because of that."

"Well that doesn't help," said Misami, crossing her arms beneath her chest. "You still haven't told us if you'd rather be a boy or a girl."

Then, an idea came to Fujitaka. "What about in a fight? I bet your guy form is much stronger than your girl form right?"

"Of course it is," Ranma replied, causing Fujitaka to grin victoriously at Misami. "But of course, my girl form is much faster so that counts for something. If I fought my girl form right now as a guy it would probably end up as a tie. I'm stronger as a guy so my hits hurt more and I can take much more damage. But as a girl I'm faster so I could land more hits and dodge attacks easier." He paused for a while, thinking about his next words. "Now that I think about it I think being either one is pretty much alright," answered Ranma, adopting a standing thinking pose. "I mean, there are good points to being a guy but there are good points to being a girl too. I guess I'm just lucky or unlucky depending on how you look at it."

Both Misami and Fujitaka sighed as they lowered their heads in disappointment before turning to each other with a death glare. "You got lucky," they both said at the same time. "Ranma didn't choose because he didn't want to hurt your feelings."

"Great." Ranma just slapped his forehead again and shook his head. "Y'know," he began to say, loud enough to get the two to stop arguing. "Maybe I should just give you two a curse like mine. Maybe that'll get you to stop arguing."

"You wouldn't dare," hissed both Misami and Fujitaka together.

"I'm a member of the Hyuuga Clan. My father would never allow you to do such a thing."

"Maybe I should explain to your old man that you're arguing over something so stupid."

"So I'm an old man then?" Asked Neji, his right eye twitching at the title while Sakura and Hinata were snickering.

"Wait, so you're Misami's old man?" The twitch only got worse while the snickering got louder. "Sorry, force of habit."

Neji sighed as he said, "I'll let it go just this time. And yes, I am her 'old man' as you put it. And as to your idea, personally I think she would benefit from it." He ignored the outburst from his daughter as he began to answer Ranma's, and Misami's, unasked question. "Not only would she definitely learn how to respect the opposite sex, but she would also benefit from it as a ninja. One of the things a ninja must excel at is stealth. If she could learn to act as a different person, as well as a different gender, then it would be easier for her during missions and such that require the use of disguises. Especially when in enemy territory."

"But why not just use a simple Transformation technique?" Asked Ranma. "Won't it be the same?"

"There are some techniques that make illusions such as Transformation useless, the Byakugan for example and Genjutsu specialists. There are also techniques that grant the user the temporary ability to see through illusions. And let's not forget that powerful ninjas can detect Chakra being used on a person whether it is a Genjutsu or a transformation technique. That is why sometimes we must resort to common methods in order to disguise ourselves."

"But isn't that curse permanent?" Asked Hinata, remembering Ranma saying that he had yet to find a cure that actually works.

"Well, that would be a problem."

Ranma saw his Genin teammates sigh in relief as Neji seemed to think about the idea more. The pair was certain that he would not go through with it anymore. That is, until Ranma spoke up. "Actually…" As the word left his mouth, Misami turned to glare at him, almost as though telling him not to say another word. But once again, Ranma was oblivious to the look she was giving him. "I still have a few packets of the Instant Spring of Drowned Boy and Instant Spring of Drowned Girl. It's only temporary and should last about a month or so. That's if they use the method to making it last shorter than it should. I could make it shorter but not longer. Of course, they have to stay in their cursed forms for that entire month."

"Well then," said Hinata, giving a small smile that was directed more to Misami than Ranma. "All we have to do is get permission from Hizumi-san's parents, Kurenai-sensei and Naruto-kun to make it official ninja training for these two." Hinata paused for a while before nodding, as though making a decision. "Perhaps I should go now. After all, it's been a while since I last saw Yui."

"W-wait, you know my mother?"

Turning to Fujitaka, Hinata gave him a soft smile and replied, "Yes, I do. After all, I was with the team that brought her back to Konoha during the last war. Perhaps you should ask your mother about it. I don't really think she'd appreciate it if I just tell you about her past without her permission." She smiled once more before saying, "I'll go and talk to them now. I'll tell Kurenai-sensei to tell you the news tomorrow if it does get approved."

Before either Fujitaka or Misami could protest, Hinata was out the door. Hoping to try and dissuade her from her goal, Fujitaka ran after Hinata. Misami, on the other hand, whirled around and sent another glare towards the only person she could direct her anger at, Ranma. "You just had to say it didn't you?"

"Huh?" Ranma blinked his eyes owlishly at the white eyes glaring directly at him. He didn't really feel nervous or afraid at the look she was sending him, even when she had activated her Byakugan he found no reason to feel nervous. "Say what? What did I say?" Irked at the obliviousness of her teammate, Misami simply huffed, deactivated her Byakugan and stormed out of the room, muttering darkly the entire way. Turning to the remaining two adults he asked, "Was it something I said?"

They could only sweatdrop at that statement, both of them asking themselves the same question. 'Is he really that dense?'

"By the way, is a month the limit that those curses will last?" Asked Sakura. "Maybe we could use it on our spies for better intelligence reports. And how come you can make it shorter but not longer?"

"Did I say that?" He asked innocently in return. "I meant that I could make it longer but not shorter."

Neji and Sakura looked at each other in disbelief before the latter faced Ranma once more and asked, "So, exactly how long does it really last?"

"Those temporary curses are defective. The moment you turn back to normal then the curse is cancelled out." Reaching into his sleeve, Ranma pulled out what looked to be an ordinary piece of soap. "This is some of the waterproof soap I have left. I know it sounds weird but even though it's waterproof you can still get wet. When I asked Cologne about it she said that it's more along the lines of not letting the temperature of the water trigger the curse."

After hearing what the soap does, Sakura realized what Ranma was planning. "So you're going to tell them that using the soap makes the curse last shorter and when they do use it, it would instead make sure they don't change back." She paused, smirked and shook her head. "They're going to hate you for it if they find out."

"Meh, it doesn't matter. Not like they can hurt me or anything. By the way, I've got a question." They snapped out of their thoughts and turned their attention back to Ranma. "Everyone knows about the war with the other two villages right?" They nodded. "So, why does it seem… I dunno, quiet? Are they resting from an attack or something?"

"Well, during the last war against Orochimaru and Oto, he attacked not only Konoha but other villages, both Iwa and Kumo included. Although he formed an alliance with them, it was short-lived when they discovered that he was using Iwa and Kumo shinobi for his experiments," explained Sakura. "Since the end of the war with Oto, all those that were attacked during the war are trying to recover from the attacks. Iwa and Kumo didn't suffer too much damage so they might attack us soon. I'd say they'd be ready in about a few more weeks."

"How are you sure about that?" Asked Neji, giving her a slightly suspicious look.

"Oh that's right, you weren't with us at that time," replied Sakura, remembering that Neji was out of the village at that time. "About a year before the war with Oto ended we received information from one of our spies that Iwa and Kumo were planning to start a war after Oto was destroyed. Along with that was an estimate of how long it would take them to replenish their lost supplies, rebuild their defenses and gather the necessary troops. The estimated time was about three years, give or take a month or so. If they finish ahead of schedule then they should be ready to attack in about three or four weeks."

"And the information was accurate?"

"Naruto trusts the spy with his life."

"Very well. Now that I know this I'll have more reason to train Misami harder. That goes the same for you," he said, turning to Ranma at the last statement. "You're still new to the ways of a ninja and four weeks is not enough time for you to learn what's needed to be a good ninja. You'll have to work harder in order to catch up to the level you should be at your age."

"Heh, don't worry about me. I've been fighting since I was young and the past two years was full of constant battles. You should be more worried about those that don't have any experience in a real fight."

"I know that. But are you prepared?" Before Ranma could answer, Neji continued speaking. "Are you prepared to see death around you? Are you prepared to kill someone? Are you prepared to do whatever it takes to make the ultimate sacrifice?"

"I'm not ready to see people die all around me," replied Ranma, looking down to the floor as he said this. "I've already killed someone but I'm not ready to do it again and again. I'm a martial artist. My duty is to protect those who can't protect themselves, even at the cost of my life. I don't like killing. I was brought up with the Art and was taught not to use my Art to kill."

"So you're saying that we shouldn't tell you to kill?"

"I'm saying that if you want someone dead then you should find somebody else. The best I could do right now is to knock them out and leave them for you to kill. Maybe… Maybe I'll be able to kill later on. Maybe one day you won't have to kill for me. But that doesn't mean I have to like it."

"No one's asking you to like it Ranma," said Sakura, placing a comforting hand on Ranma's shoulder. When he looked up to her face, she gave him a soft smile. "Believe it or not, here in Konoha one rule that the ninjas must follow is that they should kill only if it is necessary. Well, it is a rule now that Naruto is Hokage." She smiled a bit more at that. Looking to the side, Ranma saw Neji smiling a bit as though remembering the memory. "I said it before Ranma, you and Naruto are alike. One difference is that he would kill if he knew it was necessary while you would still hesitate to make the final blow."

She placed a finger on his lips just as he was about to speak. "I'm not saying you should be like Naruto. You are who you are. Eventually you might learn to kill only as a necessity like him, but now doesn't seem like the time for that."

Upon hearing that statement, a memory surfaced in Ranma's mind. A memory of an old martial arts master he met when he was fourteen years old. As Sakura began to speak the next words, the voice of the old man echoed along with it. "He went through many hardships before he could accept that sometimes killing will become a necessity in his line of business. He accepted this in the end but that doesn't mean he likes it. Even an Art used to protect will shed blood from time to time. The question is, why was it used to shed blood? Was it for the good of many? Or for the good of the user? The answer to that question is what will justify your actions in the end. Let's just pray that it is the first and not the second in your case."

Ranma was slightly surprised to hear those very same words. Only this time it came from the mouth of another person and the one it pertained to was a different person as well. But the meaning was the same, regardless of who said it. He smiled and whispered so that only he could hear, "Thanks old man", before saying out loud, "Thanks, Sakura-san."

"You're welcome Ranma. Just remember, Naruto wouldn't send someone out on a mission or out to war unless that person was ready and willing to go."

"Unless you're a Genin and was given a mission," interjected Neji, giving a small smile. "If that was so, then you have no choice but to go on the mission unless your Jounin instructor declines."

They shared a small laugh before Ranma looked to both of them. "So long as I don't have to find those two demons again then I'll be alright." They both gave Ranma questioning looks at that statement before looking to each other and shrugging it off. Looking out the window, Ranma saw it was getting dark and said, "Well, I better get going. I wanna try to get my Chi out before this war starts." He raised one leg up to walk out the door when his stomach grumbled. The two adults snickered while Ranma just gave them a sheepish look. "Well, after I get something to eat."

Ranma left the training room and left the Hyuuga compound soon after, Sakura leaving a few minutes later. As the pink-haired Jounin walked through Konoha, she could be heard speaking to herself. "There's no doubt about it now," she said to herself, speaking in a low enough voice so that she wouldn't be heard by those not close enough. "He's definitely different from before. But it makes me wonder why he hasn't approached us yet?"

There was a short moment of silence before she spoke again. "It's possible. However, what can we do to let him know that it's us? That is, if he does know it's us." Another pause. "What I'm saying is that maybe he doesn't really know who we are. There's no guarantee that he knows it's us so we'll have to be discreet about it until the right time." She stopped and grinned as a memory came to mind. "Perhaps a run-in with Satsuki will help us discover this."

_END CHAPTER 3_

**And that's the end for this chapter. How was it? Please click on the 'GO' button at the bottom of the page and tell us what you think of this chapter. Like it? Hate it? Love it? Despise it? Comment? Suggestion? Flames? Criticisms? Any and all is welcome as nothing you say can discourage us, only motivate us to write better, if we can.**

**Until the next chapter then.**


	14. Arc 2 Chapter 4

Terms of Engagement

Terms of Engagement

By Overlord of Order and Overlord of Chaos

**SUMMARY: What if many of the on-goings involving Genma and Nodoka was all a hoax? What if most of what they've said was a lie? What reason could they have to lie to so many people? What does it have to do with Ranma's future?**

_**weebee: **_**Actually, Ranma won't be involved in anything romantic here. There will be someone falling for him. But there will be no relationships asides from those already in a relationship.**

_**keichan2**_**: No, Misami isn't the girl Ranma recognized. By the way, I made a mistake on that part which I already corrected. Instead of Seera stepping forward and being recognized, it's now one of the still unknown members of the group. Don't know if you caught the part before I changed it but best to be sure to avoid confusion. **

**For those who have PM'ed me saying that the story is moving too slow, I'm sorry you guys feel that way. I'm moving it as fast as I can without skipping over important things. As to what those important things are you'll have to wait and see, that is, if you can find it. Not everything that's important to the story is obvious so I have to be careful when writing it to make sure I get it down just right and that I didn't forget to put it in.**

**Anyway, here's the fourth chapter of this arc. Hope you like it.**

_Arc 2: Ninja Training_

_Chapter 4: Escorting the Princess Part 1_

"So, how are you holding up there Kaname?"

As he approached the team's training area, the pigtailed Genin of Team 4 spotted the fourth member of their team as she worked with Kurenai on her Chakra Control. When she looked down from the tree, the young female Genin lost her concentration and fell off. She managed to land on her feet but lost her balance and fell on her bottom.

"I was doing fine until you came along," replied Kaname as she dusted off her clothes and stood from the ground. Kaname was tall not just for a 12 year old but also for a girl, being only a few inches shorter than Ranma's male form. It was obvious to him that she would eventually grow taller than him but he didn't particularly care about that. He's had his fair share of tall women during his travels. She had long crimson hair tied in a braid that reached just past her shoulders and matching red eyes. "Just you wait. I'll be the best kunoichi there ever was. I'll even surpass Tsunade of the Sannin one day."

Ever since he heard her say that the first time when they visited when she was released from the hospital two days ago he had no doubt that she would do just as she said. Just as they told him that he was like Naruto, he could see his own determination in her. Receiving the title of dead last of their graduating class seems to have motivated her to working harder to prove them wrong just as he would when his own father told him how useless and weak he was.

In Ranma's opinion, that title, even the title of Rookie of the Year, meant nothing, especially after hearing that they were graded based on book smarts as well. He made a comment about how he knew a duck and a pig much stronger than her. That certainly got her motivated to start training as soon as she had recovered enough.

"Well if you wanna do that then you better get back to climbing that tree," said Ranma as he smiled to himself as the young girl began to run up the tree and easily surpassed her previous record. Ever since Kaname recovered from her injury and returned to the team, she always said that same thing whenever she failed or was belittled. Though she was the dead last of the academy, Kurenai reasoned that she, much like Naruto, was the kind who learned through experience and not by theory and lectures.

When he saw that Kaname's control was slipping once more, Ranma decided to motivate her further. Ranma walked up to the nearest tree, made sure that Kaname was watching him before he casually walked up the side of the tree until then hung upside down beneath the first branch. He looked down and saw Kaname looking up at him with a bit of awe. "What?" he asked innocently? "Is there something on my face?"

Kaname just shook her head before turning to the tree she was climbing and running at it with a look of determination on her face. Ranma laughed a bit at that. It was easy to encourage Kaname but also easy to discourage. One wrong word could have made her depressed instead of motivated, which would in turn affect the team in the long run. 'Still,' thought Kurenai. 'If this keeps up she'll definitely catch up to the rest of the Genins. Now that I think about it, where are they? They should be here by now.'

Almost as though sensing their instructor's concern, two more people joined them in the clearing. "There you two are," said Kurenai, waving them over to the group. "I was beginning to wonder whether you two would show up or not."

"Meh, for all I know you two could have been staring at the mirror the whole morning." This caused the two newcomers to blush heavily despite the weather being cool for noon time. Grinning a bit more he said, "Or maybe they were spending too much time in the bathroom." The heavy blush only became deeper, coloring their entire face as red as a tomato. "Or maybe…"

"That's enough Ranma," said Kurenai, trying to keep her own grin hidden for the sake of the two. "Anyway, we…"

"Hold on," began Kaname as she walked over to the other two Genins. "I thought my teammates were Misami and Fujitaka. Who are these two?"

"These two are Takako and Mikado," said Kurenai, introducing the two Genins beside her, ignoring the snickering Ranma. The girl was short and had short pale blonde hair while the boy was obviously a Hyuuga, pale eyes and long black hair in a ponytail. "Because Ranma was put into this team by the Hokage himself, he placed Misami and Fujitaka in a different team. Takako and Mikado became Genin just last year and their third member is already a Chuunin so they'll be taking the place of Misami and Fujitaka."

"Oh, that's too bad. I wanted to show how far I got climbing that tree in just two days."

"There'll be time for showing off during the Chuunin Selection Exams, which, if you train hard enough, you'll be ready for when it comes around in two months," said Kurenai. "Anyway, now that we're all here we should report to the Hokage for our mission."

As they began to leave the training grounds, Ranma could be heard muttering darkly about two demons he wouldn't mind killing if he ever saw them again.

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Meanwhile, inside Naruto's office, the Hokage was currently reading a mission request from a friend. "Well this is interesting," he commented out loud, loud enough for Hinata to hear.

"What's interesting Naruto-kun?"

"This."

Without looking up from the paperwork on his desk, he handed the letter to Hinata before getting back to work on the rest of the papers. "I see. So who should I call on Naruto-kun? Gai or Lee?"

"Neither," he replied offhandedly. "Call Temari and have her come here as soon as she can. She should still be at home or if not then on the way to the West Gate. It would be better if she knew what was going on. Also, look for Kakashi and his team as well."

Nodding in reply, Hinata left without asking any more questions, leaving to search for Temari to inform her that her presence was needed. Five minutes after she left, Kurenai and her team arrived and now stood in front of the Hokage, waiting for their mission to be assigned. "Right on time," he said, looking at the clock hanging on the wall. "I just received a mission request that I think your team would be the best one to send out. It's a B-rank escort mission."

"A B-rank mission?" repeated Kurenai, surprised that they would receive such a mission barely two weeks after their team was formed. "Hokage-sama, are you sure that we would be the best to send out on that mission? Kaname just got out of the hospital two days ago. I don't think it would be wise to send us out on such a mission."

"Trust me," was all Naruto said in return. After a moment's pause he continued to speak. "Your team is a balanced team good for both combat and reconnaissance, two things that will be needed for this mission. I've already called for Kakashi and his team to help you with this mission." Just then, the door opened and two people entered the room, one of them was Hinata.

"So, what did you call me here for Naru…" The woman paused, seeing that there were others in the room with them. "er… Hokage-sama?" The other person who entered the room was yet another female, a few years older than Naruto, with short blonde hair. Strapped to her back was quite possibly the largest fan Ranma had ever seen before. She was wearing a kimono, from what he could see, but not the kind his mother wore as this one was loose enough to allow for combat. "I was just about to leave for Suna when Hinata here told me that you wanted to see me."

"Yo." Everyone turned around at the sound of the voice to find the Copy Ninja and his own team standing by the still open door.

Naruto just nodded back his greeting as he held out the letter received, holding it out in Temari's direction. "I received this letter from the Kazekage just now." Those words prompted Temari to take the letter and read it quickly. "Apparently there is a group of missing-nins that had begun to attack Suna-nins on their way back to Suna as well as on their way out. This started about a week ago. What caught his attention was that the attack points were all in between Suna and Konoha so it's possible that they were hired by Kumo or Iwa to weaken them since they are an ally of ours. And since we haven't sent anyone to Suna or in that direction in the past week we haven't had any attack from them but I'm sure they would attack if we did send someone. The Kazekage is worried that they might try to attack Temari on her way back from Konoha."

"So we're to escort her back to Suna to prevent any mishaps?" Asked Kurenai, to which Naruto nodded.

"Hokage-sama, are you sure sending two Genin teams will be enough?" Questioned Temari, handing over the letter to the two Jounins in the room. "The report indicates at least 30 missing-nins of at least Chuunin rank." This caused six of the seven Genins in the room to look up to her, wondering if they heard her correctly. "One of the survivors also stated that he saw Toshiki Yamoto, a B-rank missing-nin from Suna with the skills of a Jounin. And if he's there then that means his sister, Chiharu Yamoto, will most definitely be there as well and those two working together hold the threat of an A-rank missing-nin if not greater." After that last statement, the Genins began to pale at the thought of fighting against those odds.

"I'm aware of that."

"Then I suppose you'll be sending either Gai or Lee with us just as the Kazekage requested?" Naruto shook his head at that, still looking over the paperwork on his desk. "Why not? Do you mean to say that you'll send two Genin teams, one of them fresh from the academy, to deal with over 30 missing-nins and two taijutsu specialists? I know you Hokage-sama, you never do anything without a good reason."

Naruto chuckled at her response as he looked up from his desk with a small smile. "You're right, I do have a good reason. I'm sending another one of our taijutsu specialists to deal with this problem." At this, a questioning look appeared on Temari's face. "Temari, I'd like you to meet Ranma Saotome."

Turning around, Temari looked around the room before turning back to face Naruto. "Where is he?" She asked. "All I see are six Genins, their two Jounin instructors, your wife and your assistant."

Naruto blinked at the last part of the statement before saying, "I don't have an assistant." He paused as a thoughtful look appeared on his face. "Not unless you count Keiji of course but then again he usually does the paperwork because he loses a bet with me."

"Then who's that guy?" She jerked her thumb over her shoulder, pointing it at Ranma.

"That _is _Ranma."

"That _kid_?" She asked, placing heavy emphasis on the second word. "Are you telling me that he could take on Toshiki and Chiharu?" Disbelief was clearly written all over her face as she turned around to face Ranma. "Are you a Jounin?"

Ranma just gave her a flat look before raising a hand and pointing to himself as though asking if she was speaking to him. Temari just nodded, still waiting for an answer. "No."

"ANBU?"

"No."

By now the look on her face was becoming slightly concerned. "Uh… Chuunin?"

"No."

"Don't tell me you're just a Genin." Ranma just stood there, almost as though ignoring her last statement. After almost half a minute of waiting for an answer Temari became impatient. "Well?"

"Well what?"

"Are you a Genin?"

"Yes."

"Then why the hell didn't you say that earlier!" She loomed over Ranma despite the fact that he was slightly taller than her.

"You told me not to tell you."

Everyone in that room was treated to the sight of Temari falling to the floor, her body twitching every now and then. She recovered seconds later but instead of turning to Ranma, she turned to look to the Jounins. "He's kidding, right?" She asked, pointing to Ranma as she inwardly prayed that he really was just fooling around. Unfortunately for her, both Kurenai and Kakashi just shook their heads. Turning to Hinata, she received the same reply. Even the other Genins gave her the same answer. Turning back to Naruto she said, "So you're serious about this?" He nodded. She sighed dejectedly as she turned back to the two teams behind her. "We might as well get ready then. Meet me at the West Gate in an hour."

"I've got a question." Turning to Ranma, Naruto gestured for him to go on. "Um… why are you sending two teams for just one person? I mean, I still don't get why you're sending us instead of just one stronger team instead. A stronger team would have less trouble wouldn't they?"

"As for your first question, it's because Temari here is the ambassadress from Suna as well as the Kazekage's sister." Ranma opened his mouth in a silent 'O' position, telling Naruto that he understood. "As for the second question, consider it part of your training."

"My… training?"

"That's right. From what Happosai has told me, you're used to fighting against only a handful of opponents with different yet similar abilities. You'll have to learn how to fight a large group of people with abilities that you've never seen before. Considering that these are missing-nins you'll be fighting, you can count on the fact that there will be several ninjas from other villages and not just Suna." He then remembered something. "Besides, don't you want to fight other taijutsu specialists? If I remember the reports correctly, Toshiki and Chiharu together should be around Lee's level. And unlike Lee, these two can and will use Chakra based technique."

While the statement caused the Genins to pale further, that statement brought to the surface of Ranma's mind the memory of Sakura explaining why Lee hadn't used a single Ninjutsu during their first fight. "Two opponents as strong as Lee-san and can use Chakra," he said to himself in a low voice before a smile crept up to his face. "Well then, what are we waiting for?" Ranma actually seemed excited by that prospect as he walked over to the window. "See you guys at the West Gate then," He then did a replay of his first day of training and leapt out the window, much to the surprise of the six Genins and Temari.

The all rushed to the window just in time to see Ranma land on the roof of the adjacent building before he leapt off to the next rooftop, making his way to the apartment where he was staying. The seven ninjas watching let out a breath they didn't know they were holding at seeing that Ranma wasn't hurt from the fall. Behind them, Naruto could only chuckle and say, "Showoff."

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And hour later, seven Genin and three Jounin were standing outside Konoha's West Gate, both groups standing in front of the other as they awaited instructions from the Jounins. "Alright," began Kakashi. Seeing as he was more experienced than they were, Kurenai and Temari decided that Kakashi should be the leader for that mission. "First I want to know something. Who are you two?"

Everyone turned to Takako and Mikado, both of them feeling uneasy at the scrutinizing gaze Kakashi was sending them. Ranma help back his laughter as best he could while Kurenai stepped up to explain. "These two are the replacements for Misami Hyuuga and Fujitaka Hizumi, both of them having been reassigned to another team due to Ranma's addition to my team." Seeing that Kakashi didn't let up on his gaze, Kurenai sighed and said, "Ranma, Mikado, Takako, come with me. Kakashi and Temari, you too."

She led them away from the group, telling the six Genins to stay where they are and to wait for them. Once they were far enough, Kakashi said, "Alright Kurenai, what's going on? The last male Hyuuga to graduate graduated three years ago and is currently a Chuunin. Care to explain where the other one came from?"

Sighing, Kurenai just looked towards Kakashi and Temari before explaining the situation. "First of all, you two have to swear not to reveal this outside the four of us, Naruto, Sakura, Hinata and Neji, understood?" The two Jounins looked to each other before shrugging and turning back to Kurenai, nodding their assent. "Ranma, I think it would be better if you demonstrated it before anything else. Especially since those two can't change back."

"Sure," Reaching into his sleeve, Ranma pulled out a water bottle and a thermos as he stood in front of the three. "Before I explain things, you guys have to remember to keep an open mind. Back home there's this place called Jusenkyo, the Pools of Sorrow. Jusenkyo is basically this valley filled with lots of springs with bamboo poles sticking out of them. A long time ago, that place was a training ground where you have to jump from pole to pole without falling or, like what me and pops did, fight on top of those poles without falling. But eventually, the springs became cursed. Whenever something or someone drowned in one of those springs, Jusenkyo would claim the souls of whatever drowned there. Now whenever someone or something falls into a spring, they become cursed to transform into whatever drowned there."

"Wait." Everyone turned to Kakashi when he interrupted, his visible eye showing realization. "Does this have something to do with your turning into a girl during that fight?"

Ranma nodded, confirming Kakashi's thoughts to be true. "That's right. Pops and I ignored the guide when he was trying to warn us about the curses so we just went on fighting. I knocked him into one of the pools called the Spring of Drowned Panda and when he jumped out, he was a panda. I was too distracted when I saw a panda jump out that I got hit into one of the springs."

"The Spring of Drowned Girl I take it?"

"Right. Whenever I get hit by cold water I turn into a girl." Holding out the bottle of water, he uncapped it and poured some water on himself. Kakashi and Temari watched wide-eyed as Ranma's form seemed to melt, becoming smaller in some placed while some grew. His hair lost its black color and became bright crimson. All this happened in the blink of an eye as Ranma's male form turned into his smaller female form. "Before you ask, I was born a guy and the way I think isn't affected by the change. Moreover, just as cold water turns me into a girl. Hot water reverses the effects." Holding up the thermos, Ranma-chan poured some of the hot water on herself, reversing the transformation as he regained his lost height and mass.

"So I'm guessing these two-" Said Kakashi, pointing to the two Genins with them. "-Are Fujitaka and Misami then?"

Ranma nodded and Kurenai continued to explain from there. "Yesterday those two were arguing over whether being male or female was better. Ranma suggested that perhaps he should give them a similar curse to get them to stop arguing. Neji agreed that perhaps they would benefit from it other than just respect for the other gender in the form of stealth training. Because this condition is basically undetectable through any means asides from returning to their original form, they just have to act for a week as their training. And since our team was made as a balance of combat and recon having good acting ability will be necessary for the second task."

Out of the blue, Ranma said, "Hey Takako, Mikado, did you two enjoy your first bath?" This caused the transformed pair to once again blush a deep crimson as the memory surfaced. "Any trouble finding the right clothes to wear? No problems putting them on, I hope."

"Well, Ranma seems to be enjoying this," commented Kakashi as he watched Ranma continue to embarrass the two before he realized something. "Hey, doesn't what you're saying apply to you as well? You don't seem the least embarrassed showing off during that fight."

"Nah, not too much," replied Ranma, watching the two Genins blushing heavily. "I assume they already got the talk, right?"

"Part of the Academy curriculum is human anatomy, which includes that to a certain degree."

"Well, I got this curse when I was sixteen, almost two years ago. Since I was traveling around with pops to train he actually forgot to give me that talk."

A partially shocked look appeared on the three Jounin's faces when they realized what that meant. "Y-You mean…"

"Yeah, I pretty much didn't know the difference between a guy and a girl other than what he told me. All he taught me was that girls are weaker and aren't fit for martial arts and a bunch of nonsense like that. It wasn't until we were staying in Nerima that I got back to school without having to worry about moving around. It was only then that I actually understood the real difference between a guy and a girl. Because I got used to seeing myself naked as a girl since we had to bathe in rivers and such during our trip back home that it doesn't bother me at all. Also, cold water is much more common so I usually change unexpectedly from time to time."

"So I take it that's why you didn't react to Naruto's technique?"

"Which one? The one where he uses Transformation to turn into a girl?" Kakashi nodded. "Nah, not really. It's a stupid technique anyway and besides, you'd never find a girl who's willing to do that in the middle of a fight. Besides, only a pervert would be affected by that. Like I told him, he doesn't have anything I don't already have."

"Excuse me." They all turned to find an impatient looking Temari, tapping her feet with her arms crossed beneath her chest. "But if you don't mind we've been standing here for the past half hour talking about this strange condition of theirs. It'll take us a few days to reach Suna so we might as well start now."

Kakashi just nodded before becoming serious once more. They returned to the group, Ranma still throwing comments towards the transformed pair, causing them to blush heavily. "Alright, Mikado will travel alongside Temari and use his Byakugan to scout around us and warn us of anyone coming towards us. Kurenai will be up front and lead us to Suna along with Ranma and Kaname, Takako and Shizuru to Temari's left, and Kenji and Genzo to her right. I'll cover us from behind. Now then, let's move out."

Everyone got into position as Kurenai led the entire group, running towards the west at a speed the Genins could keep up with. Along the way Kakashi and Temari were, discreetly, asking Takako and Mikado about how it felt to turn into a girl and boy respectively. The two of them answered all the questions in just about the same way without any problems but made sure not to let any of the other Genins know. It was going fine until Ranma decided to join in. "You guys never did answer my questions earlier."

"What question?" They both asked at the same time.

"You never told me if you guys enjoyed your first bath." Ranma just burst out laughing as they blushed once again, Temari, Kurenai and Kakashi laughed along while the other Genins found themselves confused. "By the way Temari-san." Turning around, he turned to face Temari while still running backwards. "What's up with that big fan?"

"This?" Temari pointed behind her towards her fan to which Ranma nodded. "I use it to perform my techniques. I can also use smaller fans but only those ones made for combat. Why?"

"Just wondering. So basically you'd be defenseless without your fan then?"

"In the past, yes. I took care of that a long time ago"

"What about you?" She asked, looking Ranma over carefully. "It doesn't look like you're carrying any weapons at all. Even the taijutsu specialists I've met carry a few weapons just in case."

"Well, pops taught me not to rely on weapons since getting your weapon taken away from you usually means losing your advantage. Also, using a weapon actually holds you back from performing to your full ability even if it does give you an additional set of moves. I learned from various masters how to use different weapons but that's mostly so that I know how to defend against them instead of actually using them."

"If you would choose a weapon, what would it be?"

"My fists," he replied without hesitation. "I mean, I know how to use weapons but not good enough to use it to fight someone who uses it in a fight. I know the basics but I don't have mastery over it unlike when I fight unarmed. I've been training since I was young up until now and I've fought all my battles with my fists. It was only that one time that I had to use a weapon. The magical properties of the weapon amplified my attack enough to beat my opponent."

"_Magical _properties? Do you really believe in magic?"

He gave her a look that clearly said 'You're asking me?' When it was clear that she didn't seem to understand he said, "Hey, I turn into a girl with cold water. It's not that hard to believe that there's a weapon that amplifies fire and another that amplifies ice." His features then suddenly became more serious as he turned back to face the front. He reached a hand over to Kurenai and stopped her from running, everyone else following his actions. "Somebody's there," he said, answering the unasked question.

The others turned to Mikado as he used his Byakugan to search. "There's nobody there Ranma," said Mikado, his Byakugan activated and his attention turned to scouting the area. "If there was I'd definitely see them."

Ranma just shook his head before lunging forward, cocking his arm back for a punch. He punched the air but before he could reach his intended target, a hand materialized in front of his, catching his hand easily. He pulled his hand away and kicked at the cloaked figure that appeared out of thin air. The figure jumped back into the shadows to avoid the kick and held out a hand towards Ranma as he jumped back to protect the group behind him just in case. "I have no intention of fighting any of you," said the figure, obviously female due to the voice. "I only came with a message for Ranma."

"What is it then?" Asked Ranma, not letting his guard down while the others behind him did the same. "They can listen to whatever you have to say to me."

"Very well, if you're sure." The figure nodded and spoke again. "I admit it was quite difficult tracking you seeing as you left your home, even with my psychic abilities. Anyway, your mother would like to meet you before your heritage is unsealed. She asked me to take you to her as soon as possible."

"My mother? That's impossible. My mother is-"

"I know what you are going to say," she said, interrupting Ranma. "And if you don't want any of those behind you to know where you come from then you better not say another word." Ranma grit his teeth, just knowing that the figure in front of him was grinning.

'Just who is she?' He asked himself, sweating lightly at the aura she was emitting. 'She feels so powerful. If she does fight I don't think I'll be able to do anything let alone six kids. And why does her voice sound so damn familiar?'

"As I was saying, I know what you were going to say. Unfortunately I wasn't speaking about that woman. I was speaking about your real mother, the one whose blood you carry. That woman you call mother is nothing more than the one who carried you to term while your real mother continued with her duties."

"Wh-What?"

"I guess your two caretakers haven't told you that yet," she said in a way that irritated Ranma. "Well?" She asked, holding out her hand for Ranma to take. "Shall we go then? Shaika-sama is expecting you to visit soon."

It was only when the girl stepped out of the shadows that he realized who it was. "Y-You're Seera!" He exclaimed aloud, just as another realization hit him. "I-If my real mother told you to get me then that means-"

"That's right. Your mother is one of us, the General of our army to be precise." That caused Ranma to step back involuntarily, realizing just who his true mother was coming as a great shock. "I'm guessing that you don't want to come knowing who your mother is?" Ranma just sneered as he prepared for a fight. "Oh well, I suppose I can keep searching for you longer and come at a different time. There's no reason for us to fight. Shaika-sama would probably punish me for harming you anyway. We shall meet again. Until then Ranma-_sama._"

Ranma growled at the title and lunged forward once more but Seera just stepped backwards into a shimmering portal, which disappeared before Ranma could reach it. He cursed as he punched the nearest tree in anger, uprooting the tree and sending it flying, crashing through two more trees before smashing into a third. This caused everyone to jump back quite a bit, seeing someone punch and uproot a tree was no easy feat. "Damn it," he said in a loud whisper. "Looks like Nabiki's suspicion was right. What the hell am I gonna do? Am I really going to stay here or will I end up going back with her?"

"Ranma?" Ranma then felt a hand on his shoulder as his name was called. "What was that about?"

Ranma took a deep calming breath before speaking. "It's nothing you should worry about," he said in a low voice. "It's my problem to worry about, one that I'll have to deal with once I'm done here."

Kakashi leaned closer to Ranma and said in a quiet voice, "Does it have something to do with the demons?" Ranma stiffened up at that, signifying that Kakashi's suspicion seemed to be right on target. "Don't worry, Naruto told us why he's training you. So, what does she have to do with the demons?"

"Can we not talk about this?" He asked in a strained voice. "I really don't want to talk about this right now. Besides, we still have a mission to finish."

"Alright, but I'll be reporting this to Naruto once we get back. And don't worry about it, we'll be here to help if she tries something."

Ranma only nodded as he and Kakashi returned to the group. Without a word, Kakashi told them all to get back to formation as they resumed their trek towards Suna. Everyone was glancing at Ranma every now and then, wondering what was going through his head especially after hearing the truth about his own mother. They could see that he was trying to restrain himself from doing something like punching a tree like earlier. They didn't know what Kakashi had said to Ranma but it seems to have caused him to relax a bit more but not so much as they could still feel anger radiating from Ranma.

The group continued to run until the sun was beginning to sink beneath the horizon, causing Kakashi to call to a stop. "Alright, we'll set up camp here before it gets dark." Everyone nodded and shrugged off the packs they were carrying. "Kaname, Takako, Mikado and Temari will set up camp. My team will set up traps around the area with Kurenai. Ranma, there's a river south of here. I take it you know how to fish?" Ranma just nodded stiffly and walked off in the direction Kakashi was looking. "Meanwhile I'll gather enough wood to last until day time."

Everyone nodded and went off to do their respective tasks, Kurenai taking Kakashi's team to set up traps, Kurenai's team, sans Ranma and Kurenai, setting up camp with Temari and Kakashi walking off to gather firewood. As they all went about doing their respective tasks they began to engage in conversation with those they were with, if any. Their conversations were casual for a few minutes before Temari asked the three Genin a question. "What can you tell me about Ranma?"

"Why do you ask Temari-san?" Takako asked Temari, looking up from the second tent she was pitching.

"It's just… there's just something about him. I can't really describe it but it's like there's this aura around him that seems to keep changing."

"What do you mean?"

"It's like when I was talking to him earlier, it just felt natural talking to him, and almost like I could trust him with everything I say even though I just met him. Then when we saw that strange girl earlier, it felt as though we would all die, that she had the power to kill us all in a heartbeat. Then when he confronted her and stood between us and her, it felt like I was safe just being close to him."

"Now that you mention it, I kinda felt the same way earlier," said Kaname, walking towards them and helping Takako with her tent. "When I saw that girl appear out of nowhere I felt scared, I could almost feel the power around her. But when Ranma jumped back towards us, I really felt like I was safe, like he would protect us from harm. Then when that girl left, he seemed to get angry and just as he punched that tree I felt a wave of power wash over me." Kaname seemed to shiver as she recalled the memory from earlier. "I don't know who I was more afraid of, that girl or Ranma."

"What are you two talking about now?" Asked Mikado, coming up from behind with another tent on his shoulders. "You two should be setting up the tents, not sitting around talking."

"You would too if it was about Ranma," said Kaname pointedly, seeing a slight reaction coming from the girl turned boy. "I mean, all I know is that he joined Team 4 just last week, is being trained by the Jounins everyday and was brought back by the Hokage. But exactly where did he come from and why is he here asides from helping with the war?"

"It's not polite to talk about someone when that someone isn't present." The two Genins froze upon hearing that voice. Turning around they saw Ranma-chan standing behind them holding a large net filled with fish, all still alive. "If you want to know something you should just ask the person instead of trying to come up with an explanation by yourselves. That just leads to trouble." Ranma-chan held the net out for everyone to see. "Anyway, there should be enough fish here for everyone."

"You caught all that?" Asked Temari, staring at the net in disbelief. "But you haven't even been gone for fifteen minutes. That's hardly enough time to catch what, thirty?"

"Forty three actually," she replied with a grin. "And when you've been on the road for most of your life you learn how to do things the quick and easy way to save time."

"Unfortunately most of those fish will probably go to waste." Kakashi walked back to the campsite, carrying a large bundle of wood in his arms. He placed them on the ground in the center of the campsite and turned back to Ranma-chan. "I doubt we'll be able to eat all that even if we eat some for breakfast tomorrow."

"Who said it was going to last 'til morning?"

When Kurenai and Kakashi's team returned from their task, the three Genins immediately began to ask about who Ranma-chan was along with Kaname as soon as she realized that Ranma looked different. Rather than sticking with the same story, they passed on the story that Naruto had told them to tell those below Jounin rank. Unless of course Ranma decided to tell them, something Ranma didn't really want to do at that moment. "It's basically Ranma's Bloodline Limit. With the use of cold water he can turn into a girl and hot water turns her back into a boy. It's different for all his family members as Ranma says that her father turns into a panda."

"And before you guys ask I was born a guy. The way I think doesn't change so there ain't no way I'm ever going to like boys in that way."

That night, everyone was treated to the sight of Ranma-chan devouring all the fish that were left after everyone else had eaten their fill. The number went down to thirty, then twenty, then ten until finally only five were left. "How the heck can you eat all that?" Asked Kaname, staring at Ranma-chan in shock along with all the others as she placed the remaining three on sticks and placed them by the fire before picking up one of the two she left to cook while she ate the previous ones. "Not only are you smaller than me but I don't think there's even a tiny bit of fat on you. Where do you put all that?"

Ranma-chan just grinned at her and said, "You'll have to find that out on your own." before returning to her meal.

As she continued to devour the fish, Kakashi cleared his throat and held out his hand with ten folded pieces of paper in it. "Alright, everybody except Temari pick one and open it." Everyone did as they were told and picked one piece of paper each, leaving two in Kakashi's hand. He picked one and crumpled the other one. As they each unfolded it Kakashi said, "Alright, who has number one?" Kurenai held up her hand as Kakashi looked down at his piece of paper and saw the same number. "Well then, looks like we get the first shift then. Who got number two?" At this, Ranma raised his hand. "Alright, looks like you get the next shift by yourself. Think you can handle it alone?"

"If it's alright," began Temari, "I'll take that shift with him."

Kakashi just sent her a questioning look but nodded just the same. "Alright, if you're sure. Who's got the third shift?" Mikado and Takako raised their hands. "The fourth?" Kaname and Shizuru. "Looks like Genzo and Kenji have the last shift then. We'll each take two hour shifts while the others do what they want. Although I suggest you guys get some sleep since you'll need it for tomorrow."

The Genins nodded and began to move to the tents only to stop when Ranma-chan's teasing voice called out to them. "Hey Mikado, Takako, where do you two think you're going?" The two turned back to face Ranma-chan with questioning looks on their faces. "Girls in that tent and boys in that tent." The two almost looked like they'd gone into shock as they realized the implications of Ranma-chan's words. "Or did you two forget already?"

Kurenai was treated to the sight of seeing a Hyuuga blushing heavily once again, reminding her of Hinata when she was younger. Though the two were blushing they turned to the _right_ tent and entered hesitantly, both of them not looking forward to sleeping. Once they were inside their tent Kakashi turned to Ranma-chan only to find her beginning to meditate. "I'll wait up for my shift," she said monotonously. "I'll need to undo this in case _she_ decides to come back."

"Alright."

Kakashi and Kurenai walked off but not before Temari asked them something. "What does he mean by undo?"

"I'll let him explain that to you since I don't understand it myself," replied Kakashi. "And just as everything with him, remember to keep an open mind."

With that Kakashi left the campsite, taking to the trees just as Kurenai did the same in the opposite direction. Temari just sat there, reaching into her pack, pulling out several objects and set them down in front of her. Grabbing her fan from behind her, she opened it as she began to check for any damages on it, all the while sending curious glances towards Ranma-chan's still form.

As she was cleaning her fan she saw a bright light out of the corner of her eye. Turning to the side, she saw Ranma-chan beginning to pale yellow. There was a look of pure concentration on her face as beads of sweat began to pour down the side of her face. A few seconds later the glow subsided but Ranma-chan's concentration didn't waver. About five minutes later the glow returned, only this time the light was golden yellow instead of pale yellow like earlier. But just as soon as it appeared, the light was gone once again.

Ranma-chan opened her eyes, breathing heavily as she wiped the sweat from her brow. The look of concentration was gone from her face and was replaced by that of someone who was beginning to get annoyed. "Is this some kinda test, Happosai?" She asked herself just loud enough for Temari to overhear.

She didn't expect anyone to actually answer which is why she jumped when she heard someone reply. "More or less," Stepping into the campsite, the diminutive form of Happosai was seen as he walked closer to Ranma-chan. "I see you've figured out what I did, right?"

"Yeah. Although it might take a while before I can actually break out of it."

"Ranma, who's that?" Temari asked warily, preparing for a fight just in case.

"Huh? Oh sorry, I forgot you were there for moment," she replied sheepishly, tugging the base of her pigtail with her hand. "This is Happosai, the Grandmaster of the style I use."

"I see." Temari let out a relieved sigh and relaxed seeing as there was no need for a fight.

"Well Ranma, it seems I was worried over nothing if you've come this far in only a short amount of time. Although I do wonder how far you've gotten using their Chakra."

Ranma-chan grinned as she stood up, easily towering over Happosai. "Care to find out?"

"Perhaps another time m'boy," he replied, waving one hand in front of him. "Besides, I still have preparations to make. I simply came to see how you were coming along. Can't let the heir to my school become too lenient now can I. Anyway, since you seem to have figured out how to break through the barrier I'll leave you for now."

And with that Happosai left just as quickly as he had arrived. "Well that was strange," Ranma-chan commented before sitting back down and meditating once more.

"What was he talking about?" Temari asked Ranma-chan, sitting down beside the fire once more. "What barrier?"

"Well, it's basically a barrier he put around me that keeps me from using my Chi." Breaking out of her meditation, Ranma-can held out a hand palms up. The hand began to glow golden yellow just as Temari had seen earlier around Ranma-chan entire body. "I can only push it out this far before the barrier becomes stronger and keeps me from pushing it out further."

"Chi is basically life energy," she continued to say, already knowing that Temari wouldn't know what Chi is. "It's found in everything that's alive, even in the air around us. Just like how you ninjas use Chakra, I learned how to use Chi from a young age."

"But if Chi is life energy won't that mean that you'll kill yourself by using it?"

"We all have a reserve of Chi that's basically used to help us heal injuries and recover from an illness. That's the reserve that we can use to fight and it keeps growing the more we use it. Even meditation can help increase the size of your reserve. Or if you want you can use your reserve to help keep yourself alive longer than you should be just like Happosai. I think he's at least 300 years old if I remember right."

"Th-Three hundred? Y-You're kidding!"

"It's true. And the old ghouls just about the same age as he is. Of course by doing that you don't have as much Chi to use in a fight."

"So you can basically live forever?"

Ranma-chan shook her head and began to explain. "Happosai told me that the longer they live the more Chi they need to use to keep themselves alive. Basically they just use their Chi to heal their cells as they deteriorate from old age. And the older they grow, the faster their cells deteriorate so they have to use more and more Chi."

"What else can you do with Chi?" Asked Temari, becoming interested in the discussion. "It really doesn't sound like you can do much with it."

"Well if I could use my Chi properly I could show you but until I learn how to use pure Chi without any emotions I won't be able to break through the barrier."

"What's the difference between using pure Chi and one with emotions?"

"It's easier to channel Chi with the use of emotions but when I use emotions I become more prone to that emotion," she explained. "I've been using my pride and confidence all this time and it's only a few months ago that I stopped using it excessively. But since I started using that particular emotion I've gotten more and more confident in myself to the point of overconfidence. The barrier Happosai put on me absorbs the emotions used in Chi so it drains the power behind the attack before I can actually break down the barrier. I have the power, it just gets weakened before I can even attack the barrier. Of course it's hard since it need much more concentration that I normally need when using emotions."

Just then, Kakashi and Kurenai reappeared, jumping down from the treetops and landing beside the two. "Well, our two hours are up so it's your turn to keep watch," said Kakashi while Kurenai entered the girls' tent. Ranma-chan and Temari just nodded as they both took to the treetops as well, leaving the campsite and the two Jounins to retire for the night.

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The next morning everyone, save for Genzo and Kenji, was just waking up for the day. As they left their tents, they looked to see Ranma-chan sleeping against the tree in front of the two tents. "He slept there?" Most of them asked almost at the same time.

Temari came out of the tent to see who it was they were taking about and saw them all looking at Ranma-chan. "He said it wouldn't be right for him to sleep in the girls' tent and since he's still in his female form he doesn't trust any of the boys inside the boys' tent."

"Now there's a question. Why _is _he in his female form?"

"Well, apparently it's that time of the month for her," she replied, having heard the explanation the night before. "Her transformation is complete to the point that she can actually become pregnant and such. If she turns back to her male form it would be painful for her since her female organs are missing for the task."

Kakashi just nodded in understanding as he walked over to Ranma-chan to wake her up. "I wouldn't do that if I were you Kakashi-sensei."

"Why not Takako?"

"It's like he has some kind of defense when he's asleep. I tried waking him up in the middle of our shift last night and he just rolled away from my hand. When Mikado tried to kick him, he just pushed the leg away and Mikado fell over. If you don't believe me just watch." Takako walked over to Ranma-chan's sleeping form and reached down to shake her awake. Just before her hand reached Ranma-chan, she rolled away. Takako moved her hand over but she just rolled away once more. She continued to do so, even to the point of trying to jump onto Ranma-chan only to find herself flying as Ranma-chan caught her mid-flight and pushed her away.

Seeing what Takako was doing, Mikado just walked over and said, "He's still asleep?" Takako just nodded, lying on the ground from her short flight. "I don't believe him." He attempted to kick Ranma awake, forgetting about last night's incident, and ended up having his leg pushed away, causing him to lose his balance and fall over just like the night before. "I forgot about that."

Suddenly Ranma-chan's arms shot up into the air as her mouth opened wide. She let out a heavy yawn as she sat up, pushing off the tree while doing so. "I haven't slept like that in a long time," she commented, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. Looking down she saw Mikado lying on the ground. "What happened? Did you trip over something?" Mikado just growled in response, standing and brushing off the dirt from his clothes before walking away.

The rest of the morning was uneventful as they disassembled their tents, disabled the traps and prepared to leave while Ranma left to catch more fish from the river. After fifteen minutes Ranma-chan returned carrying just as many fish as she had caught last night. As they ate their breakfast, or rather waited for Ranma to finish hers, Kakashi handed Ranma-chan a blank piece of paper.

"Channel some of your Chakra into the paper," he said before Ranma-chan could ask the question on her mind. "This will determine your elemental affinity so that I know what element to continue training you with." Ranma-chan did as she was told and the paper was cut down the middle by an invisible force. "So you have a wind affinity. Looks like you have more in common with Naruto than we first thought."

"Wind huh? Anything special I should know about the wind element?"

"Wind element is an offensive element that can cut through just about anything," explained Temari. "I have the same element as you so if neither you nor Kakashi mind I can help you train along the way to Suna." They both nodded as Temari grabbed a leaf from the bush beside her and handed it to Ranma. "First, how is your Chakra control?"

"His Chakra control is still average at best," Kakashi replied for Ranma-chan. "You'll have to teach him how to balance something with Chakra first."

Nodding, Temari turned back to Ranma-chan and explained her task. "First you have to focus Chakra in the palm of your hand and cause the leaf to hover in place. Then try doing the same thing with just one finger. Once you can do that we'll move on to something heavier."

Nodding, Ranma-chan began to do as she was told, using one hand to eat the fish while the other concentrated Chakra. Much to everyone's surprise, it only took Ranma-chan fifteen minutes before he could properly balance the leaf on her fingertip. As they began to their trek towards Suna, Temari broke off the end of a branch and handed it to Ranma, telling him to do the same thing with it before moving onto a kunai. As they were running through the forest, Ranma noted that they were seeing less and less trees the farther they traveled. It was several hours later that their environment changed to that of a desert.

"Alright. We'll walk from here since we'll be moving under the heat of the sun," said Kakashi while the others nodded in affirmative. Turning to Temari he said, "The nearest village is about 12 miles away, right?" She nodded. "Good, we'll stop there for a while to rest and restock on supplies. If we get there too late then we'll spend the night there and leave in the morning."

"Right."

With that everyone began their slow trek towards Suna, walking westward at a slow pace. Along the way to the village, Ranma-chan managed to balance the kunai on her fingertip with her Chakra. With a satisfied nod from Temari she handed her another leaf and held out another one for herself. "What you're going to do next is to cut through the leaf using your Chakra. I'll show you just once so pay attention." Ranma-chan watched as she held the leaf with her Chakra above her finger before it split down the middle. "Did you see… that?" When Temari looked up from her leaf she saw that Ranma-chan was balancing her leaf on her fingertip. Just as she glanced up, the leaf split down the middle just like hers. "Ooooookay, looks like you've got that down. Try that with the kunai as well. You can use the first step to practice Chakra control as well by balancing one kunai on each finger. I think Naruto used to do it while walking on water."

Nodding, Ranma-chan pulled out the kunai from earlier and began to balance it on her finger with her chakra. Unlike the leaf, a crack went from the bottom of the kunai and up by about an inch before it stopped. She just shook her head to herself and went back to trying to cut the kunai. Craning her head over her shoulder, Temari turned to look to Kakashi. "He's a fast learner isn't he." It was more of a statement than a question. "It's almost like he knows how to use Chakra but just forgot."

"I suppose it has something to do with his Chi. He once told me that controlling Chi and Chakra are similar to each other. Perhaps that's why he can learn faster than others because he has experience dealing with energy."

"I suppose that would explain it."

The group continued walking, the Genins eventually complaining about the heat from the late morning sun and the boredom as they continued to walk. It was around noontime that Ranma-chan actually lost her patience at their constant complaining that she came up with an idea. "Hey, you guys are bored right? Well, I have something you can do along the way." That got the attention of everyone as she struggled to hide a smirk at the look on the Genins' faces. "Try to figure out how much I weigh."

Ranma-chan just smirked at the mixed reactions she got. Two of them even asked if she was serious. "I'm serious here. You can even try lifting me up if you want." The boys of Kakashi's team as well as Kaname walked up to her and tried to lift her up individually. Much to everyone's surprise Ranma-chan didn't even budge. All the Genins then tried to lift her up all at the same time only to get the same results. "Like I said, you can _try _lifting me up. If even one of you six can guess within 5 lbs. of my weight I'll treat you guys anywhere you want for one meal. But if not, then you guys have to pay for me. Are you up for it?" All six Genins nodded, the thought of a free meal making them forget their boredom as well as how much Ranma-chan could eat.

As they began to walk once again, Ranma-chan said, "I'll give you a hint. I weigh more than 150 lbs."

"What about an upper limit?"

"I weigh less than 800 lbs."

"That doesn't help."

"Well I gave you what you wanted so stop complaining. You have until we reach Suna to figure out how much I weigh. Also, so that you guys won't just give a random number-" The Genins' faces fell at that, realizing that their plan was shot down before they could even put it to good use. "-You each only have three guesses for a total of eighteen. Use it wisely."

With that, Ranma-chan got what she wanted, silence. The Genins were too busy trying to think of how to guess her weight before reaching the next town that they had stopped complaining about the heat and their boredom. They traveled for hours in silence until Mikado used up his first guess. "250?" Ranma-chan just shook her head while still trying to slice the kunai in half. For the four hours it took them to travel to the rest town between Konoha and Suna, the Genins had used up at least one of their guesses until they each had only one left save for Kaname who had two left.

Their first stop was to find a place to sleep, which was relatively easy except for their sleeping arrangements. "What do you mean you don't want to stay in the room with us?" Kakashi asked Ranma-chan as she made that comment. "I really don't think you'd be welcome in their room, even if you do look like a girl right now."

"No, it's just that I don't really trust you guys not to try something while I'm asleep," she replied, asking the innkeeper for another room for herself. "No offense meant of course. It's just that a lot of the guys I've met over the years tend to do a lot of perverted stuff. The boys I went to school with even tried to hit me with cold water while I was taking a shower just to be able to see a naked girl. Never mind the fact that I could have beaten them all up easily since they kept saying it would have been worth it. Heck, there were even a few girls that tried that."

They all just sweatdropped at her tale, finding it really hard to believe. Then again, a boy who turns into a girl was even more unbelievable. Even for a Bloodline Limit, as the other Genins believed, it was more unbelievable than the tale they were just told. Deciding that it would be pointless to convince Ranma-chan that none of them would try anything funny, Kakashi just accepted that she would be sleeping in a separate room as he gave them their next set of orders.

"Alright, we'll all split up into the same pairs as we did for night watch and scout around town," instructed Kakashi. "See if you can get any information on those missing-nins as well as any potential threat to this mission. Except for you Ranma," he cut in and turned to face the martial artist. "Your job is to watch over Temari and keep her safe while we do this."

"Me? Shouldn't you or Kurenai-sensei be doing that? You two have a higher rank than I do after all and you know a lot more techniques. In case you don't know I still haven't undone what Happosai did to me."

"Ranma, you're only a Genin in terms of being a ninja. As a fighter I have no doubt that you would easily outclass me given that you can fight Lee evenly in terms of taijutsu." At the questioning gaze he received, Kakashi elaborated his words further. "Don't forget that both Kurenai and I were there when Naruto tested you. We were also there when you fought Lee for the first time. Only a handful of people can keep up with Lee's speed without augmenting their speed one way or another. The same goes for those who can withstand a direct punch to the face from him and still be able to fight him evenly."

"I'm sure the Kazekage requested that either Gai or Lee be on this mission specifically to combat the two taijutsu specialists in case we encounter them. Their speed and power also would have helped them take out a majority of the 30 missing-nins accompanying the pair before they could attack."

"So Naruto-san sent me along as a replacement and because I need the experience?" Kakashi just nodded as Ranma-chan just shrugged in indifference. "Oh well, whatever. So long as I get to fight then I don't mind."

"Good." Although Kakashi looked reassured, he inwardly hoped that Ranma-chan didn't look for a fight. "Well then, let's get to work then. If any of you are attacked, be sure to make lots of noise so that the others can find you easily."

"Right."

They all nodded and went off in different directions, leaving Ranma-chan and Temari at the inn. Turning to her companion, Ranma-chan asked. "You're familiar with this town, right?" Temari nodded, asking why she wanted to know. "Is there a good equipment store here? I need something for my training."

"There should be one down this way if I remember. Close to the edge of town," she replied, pointing to her left in the same direction that Mikado and Takako went. "Come on, I'll show you the way."

As they began walking she could help but let curiosity get the better of her and asked why she wanted to go shopping. "If you won't tell anyone I'll tell you," was Ranma's reply. And after saying that she wouldn't tell anyone Ranma-chan explained what she needed. "I need to increase the weights I'm carrying again. The last time I increased it was back home."

"So you're training with weights too?" She asked, not having known that as he didn't seem to be wearing anything to indicate weights. "You're a lot more like Lee than first I thought."

They entered the equipment shop Temari was talking about and as Temari immediately looked around, Ranma-chan went straight to the owner of the shop. "Excuse me, do you have any training weights?"

"In the corner of the room next to the training vests," replied the mountain of a man, pointing to the corner beside the door.

"Thanks." Walking over in the proper direction, Ranma-chan picked one of the cylindrical weights up and weighed it in her hand, not bothering to check the weight inscribed on it. She returned it, picked out the heaviest one and weighed it once more before taking eleven of them in her hand, having to hold them with two hands due to the weight. She took it all with her and placed it on the counter in front of the man. "How much for all of these?"

As the man computed for Ranma-chan's total cost, Ranma-chan asked him a question. "Do you get a lot of customers here? I mean, the town is in the middle of the desert and all."

"Not too much business here, just the occasional traveler here and there as well as ninjas heading towards Suna from Konoha and vice versa."

Deciding to do a little scouting herself, Ranma-chan asked, "Did you happen to receive a large order during the past month from a group of Suna-nin?"

"Why do you ask?"

"I'm not really sure about the details of their mission but they were supposed to deliver something really important to Konoha but never arrived. Did they happen to pass by here?"

The man paused to think for a moment as he took the payment from Ranma-chan for the weights just as Temari came up to the counter with twenty kunai and twenty shuriken. "There was that one group that came by a week back, looked like they just came from a fight. The guy and girl with them were regulars here starting from a month before that. About a week ago, they came by with a large group and they stocked up on weapons and some medical supplies. I heard the guy telling the girl to take some of the men south while he took the rest north. Does that fit their description?"

"About how many were there?"

"There must've been around thirty ta forty of 'em."

"Yeah, that sounds like the group alright," she replied, looking thoughtful. "Thanks for the info. At least I know they made it this far before they disappeared."

"You're welcome. Good luck finding 'em."

"Thanks again." She bowed to the man before taking her purchases and walking to the side of the door, waiting for Temari to pay for her things before they both left the shop. "So, when did this Toshiki guy become a missing-nin? Was it about five weeks ago?"

"That's just about right. How'd you find out?"

"I was asking the guy at the shop if he gets a lot of customers here, being in the middle of the desert and all." She looked to Temari to see that she was still waiting for the rest of her answer. "He said they didn't get much so I asked him if he got a large order from any Suna-nins during the last month. I'm sure you heard the rest. If Toshiki did leave Suna with his sister five weeks ago then they could have come here for supplies seeing as they wouldn't be welcome in Suna any longer."

"Then about a week ago a large group came by for supplies, just about the same time the attacks began. The group had about thirty to forty people in it, along with the two regulars who we can assume could be Toshiki and Chiharu since the time fits. And since they split up to go north and south it's possible that they have two bases to cover more ground between Suna and Konoha."

"And they bought their equipment like regular people instead of taking them so that the town wouldn't call on us for help handling the situation. And since they're most likely being paid to attack us and they can steal the money from those they kill they don't have to worry about money too much," finished Temari, adding to what Ranma-chan had already said. "How'd you figure those out?"

"Actually I was about to say that maybe they took over this town which is why they didn't have to steal it but your reasoning sounds much better," Ranma-chan replied sheepishly, reaching back with her free hand and rubbing the back of her head. "Anyway, we should head back to the inn. It's getting dark and the others should be back soon."

"Well, you're my escort so might as well."

The two went back to the inn where they found Genzo, Kenji, Suzume and Kaname already waiting for them outside the inn. "Did you guys find anything out?" Asked Ranma-chan. "And why are you guys just standing out here? Wouldn't it be better to just wait in the rooms?"

"We didn't find anything out from the locals," replied Kaname, speaking on behalf of the group. "Genzo and Kenji here didn't get much from the other inn on the other side of town asides from recent attacks they've heard of. As to why we're outside you can thank Kakashi-sensei and Kurenai-sensei for that. They still have the keys to our room so we can't do anything for the moment."

"Well come on then," she said, walking into the inn. "I have my own room remember?" The four Genins and Temari followed Ranma-chan up to her room. Just before they walked in, she turned to Genzo and Kenji and said, "Could you two stay out here for a moment? I'm just gonna change my shirt since this one's all wet."

She shut the door after that, receiving questioning looks from the three females inside the room having not heard what she told the two boys. "Why'd you leave them outside?"

Ranma set down her purchase on the bed, causing it to sag from the weight. "'Coz I'm gonna take off my shirt and I don't want those two getting any ideas."

"And you don't mind us watching instead of just waiting for you to finish changing like those two?"

"One," Ranma-chan began, unbuttoning her red shirt in front of them. "You three are girls too so you won't really see anything you haven't seen before. Two." She pulled off her shirt revealing a black vest underneath which she proceeded to take off as well. "It would be rude to let you three stand outside, especially when we've been walking for hours. And three."

As she took off the vest, they all saw her wearing a sports bra underneath, keeping her well-endowed chest from moving around too much. She pulled out the kunai she was working with from her pants pocket, the tip still sharp enough despite the many cracks on the edges. "I wanted to see if they wanted to try peeping on me while I change. And since they are peeping on me, I want to give them a taste of what happens-" She spun around quickly and threw the kunai towards the door, embedding itself right between two holes to the right of the door. "-when they try to peep on me when I'm a girl."

The sound of two bodies falling to the ground was heard along with the sound of whimpering from the opposite side of the door. "Next time you two try that on me I won't miss," she called out to them, turning back to her purchase and pulling it out of the small box it was kept in. There was a sound of footsteps moving hurriedly away from the door and down the stairs before the sound disappeared completely. "Now that that's taken care off I can get to work."

Without really caring that there were three others in the room with her, Ranma-chan held up her vest with one hand while her other hand picked up one of the cylindrical weights and placed it into one of the pockets in the front of the vest. As she dropped it in, the sound of metal hitting metal was heard, telling the others that there was already something in that pocket.

She did the same with five more weights, placing them in five other pockets before turning the vest around. She placed the remaining six weights in the back of the vest before hefting it a few times and putting it on again. She stumbled a bit at the weight of the vest before standing up straight. "This is heavier than I thought."

As she began to put on her shirt, the three females in the room were watching her. Two watched with surprised looks on their faces while the third just wondered how heavy the weights were. Unable to hold back her curiosity, Temari asked, "Just how heavy were those weights anyway?"

Ranma-chan shrugged her shoulders and concentrated a bit. The iron bracers glowed for a second before it subsided and answered the question. "Don't know. I just grabbed the heaviest weight I could find and bought twelve."

"You didn't even bother to check how heavy they were?"

"Nah, it doesn't really matter how heavy they are anyway. What matters, is that it's significantly heavier than it already is otherwise training with it would take a long time if you only increased it by a little here and there." She jumped up a few times and did a few punches and several kicks to get a bit used to the weight. "Anyway, when do you think Kakashi-sensei and the others will get here?"

"Actually we're already here," came a voice from the opposite side of the door. "Is it safe to come in or are you holding a kunai?" He asked humorously.

"Just come on in," said Ranma-chan, placing the small box inside her pack as the two Jounins and the other four Genins entered, the two boys looking at Ranma-chan warily. "Now that you're here I can tell you what I found out."

"Really?" He asked, cocking his head to the side as he leaned on the wall beside the window. "That's good to hear. None of us found out anything except that the missing-nins exist and are attacking ninjas. So, what did you find out?"

Ranma-chan turned to Temari as though telling her to do the explaining. With a small sigh, Temari repeated the facts they had discovered with that one conversation with the shop owner. "Now we know that Toshiki and Chiharu are indeed with the group, they have thirty to forty men and their possibly two bases, one located in the northern and the other in the southern area."

Kakashi hummed for a while as he shut his eyes to think. "Well, we can't be too sure where their bases are even if they are north and south of here. It's possible that one base is closer to Suna and the other to Konoha or both are actually in the center of both, which is directly north and south of this town. We'll should just stick to the fastest way to Suna and travel in a straight line instead of trying to avoid something we don't know is there. What do you guys think?"

All of them agreed with Kakashi on some level but had said that it might be better to send someone to scout ahead to find the bases. That way the risk of running into the missing-nins would be lowered. Kakashi simply replied that he would think about that option and tell them tomorrow if he decides to go through with it. "As for now we should go down and eat then get some rest for tomorrow."

Everyone agreed with that, Ranma-chan's stomach making the loudest exclamation at that statement. As they left Ranma-chan's room she gave a comment that worried the Genins. "Hey, wouldn't it be funny if this town had actually been taken over by those missing-nins and that shopkeeper said that stuff to make us think that their base is elsewhere?"

Everybody paused for a moment before laughing lightly at Ranma-chan's words. Although Mikado and Takako did seem slightly nervous at the thought. "Don't worry," said Mikado. "I've had my Byakugan activated the whole time we were in town. I didn't see anybody that has more Chakra than regular civilians asides from us. I hope." He finished quietly but not quietly enough as four of those around him heard this.

Ranma-chan smirked and said, "Are you sure you didn't just want to examine your body?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Alright you two, that's enough," said Kurenai, stepping in between Mikado and Ranma-chan before they could begin arguing. "You're eighteen years old Ranma, so act like it especially since we're on a mission. Now let's just eat so we can all get some rest before we leave tomorrow." Not wanting to argue, Ranma-chan just nodded as they all got seated around a large circular table, all the while Ranma-chan glared at Mikado while he just ignored him. Seeing this, Kurenai said, "Don't try anything crazy Ranma. Don't forget, I'm a Genjutsu specialist and I already know what you're afraid of."

That got Ranma-chan to stop glaring at Mikado and got her to apologize to Kurenai profusely as they all placed their order and waited for the meals to arrive.

_END CHAPTER 4_

**And this is the end for this chapter. The next chapter will most definitely contain one or two fighting scenes since it wouldn't be right if they didn't meet up with those missing-nins sooner or later. Anyway, how was it? Please click on the 'GO' button at the bottom of the page and tell us what you think of this chapter. Like it? Hate it? Love it? Despise it? Comment? Suggestion? Flames? Criticisms? Any and all is welcome as nothing you say can discourage us, only motivate us to write better, if we can.**

**Also, we haven't said this lately but thanks for reading our story up until this point. It's basically the main reason why we continue writing even in the middle of exam week. So long as someone's reading this you can be sure that we'll finish this story. So once again, thanks for reading our story. **

**So until next time then.**


	15. Arc 2 Chapter 5

Terms of Engagement

Terms of Engagement

By Overlord of Order and Overlord of Chaos

**SUMMARY: What if many of the on-goings involving Genma and Nodoka was all a hoax? What if most of what they've said was a lie? What reason could they have to lie to so many people? What does it have to do with Ranma's future?**

**Looks like we're not as busy as we thought we would be now that were in our finals. And because of that we already have an update ready for all of you. Thank you for all the reviews you guys have given us. Just as we said, so long as someone's reading this fic then we'll keep writing to keep up with the demand. **

_Arc 2: Ninja Training_

_Chapter 5: Escorting the Princess Part 2_

"Care to tell me why you wanted to talk to me?" Ranma-chan was currently sitting on the windowsill of her room, leaning against the window frame as she looked up towards the crescent shaped moon up above them. Standing by the door, leaning against the wall, was Kakashi, looking towards Ranma-chan. "I know it wasn't for training tips like you said since you could have asked me that earlier. So, what's up?"

"There's a spy," she replied without looking away from the stars. "Maybe even two. Mikado and possibly Takako."

"What makes you say that?"

"It was Mikado that gave it away. Remember when I made that comment earlier about how it would be funny if this entire town was their base?" The silver haired Jounin nodded, remembering Ranma-chan saying that earlier. "Well, everyone else found it even a bit funny just thinking about it while those two seemed a bit nervous. Then Mikado said that his Byakugan was active the entire time we were in town. But if that was true then why would he have to be nervous."

"So I'm not the only one who noticed then," said Kakashi with a small, relieved sigh. "You're more perceptive than you let on. That's good to know. But how do I know you're really Ranma?"

"Jusenkyo," shot back Ranma-chan without even looking. "What about you?"

"Demons."

Ranma-chan just nodded absently, still looking up towards the sky. "So, what do we do from here? If it were just me I'd just let them try whatever they were going to try but I'm not alone so I've gotta think about what happens so that nobody else gets hurt. Problem is I ain't that good when I try to think about what could happen next. Just about every plan I think of blows up in my face."

"Well, I've got one question for you first. Do you think that this town really is their base?" Ranma-chan raised an eyebrow as she turned to face Kakashi the first time that night. She didn't know he was asking since she wasn't experienced with dealing with ninjas. "Think of it as part of your training. Though you're on Kurenai's team your training is mostly my responsibility. At least that's what Naruto tells me. Anyway, there are times that we will lack needed information on our enemies. This is an example. Sometimes we'll have to assume things by trying to think like our enemies or by studying the situation and making a theory up on the spot. It's a bad habit in some situations but necessary at times as opposed to jumping in blindly, even if you are jumping cautiously. What do you think about this situation? Or rather, what would you have done in their position?"

Ranma-chan looked and returned her attention to the stars, almost as though asking them for help. "If I were in their place huh?" Kakashi waited for Ranma-chan's response patiently, leaning on the wall with one eye watching Ranma-chan intently. It was about five minutes later that Ranma-chan gave her answer to which Kakashi just nodded, accepting her answer. Whether she was right or wrong was still to be determined.

Kakashi remained silent but shut his visible eye, indicating that he was thinking of something. "Well, first we'll have to see if your theory is correct regarding their base," he said. "And I've got just the thing."

REVIEWREVIEWREVIEWREVIEWREVIEW

The next day everybody woke up early, mostly thanks to Kurenai and Kakashi waking them all up almost as soon as they did. As they got up from the table after eating their breakfast, Kakashi turned to Kurenai and Temari. "I'll need to talk to you two upstairs about something important. As for the rest of you, I want you people to go around town and grab some supplies for our trip. We'll meet up with you at the west end of town so we can make our way to Suna. Be there in half an hour." The Genins just nodded and walked out the inn while Kakashi took Kurenai and Temari upstairs where they discussed their plan of action with regards to the missing-nins' base or bases.

Outside the inn, Ranma-chan and the others began to walk off towards the north side of the town where Mikado and Takako said they could buy some supplies for their trip. Along the way, the six Genins were engaged in conversation while Ranma-chan hung back and walked almost lazily, her arms crossed behind her head as she looked up to the morning sky. "Hey Mikado, Takako," she began, catching the attention of the two Genins who were leading the way. "I've got a question. How'd you two know where the shop is?"

"We were looking around this area yesterday," replied Takako, turning around to face Ranma-chan. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, I could have sworn you guys went south yesterday, towards the equipment shop that Temari-san and I went to."

"We did," said Mikado, turning around as well but still walking. "We just circled around town when we didn't find out anything new from that side of town."

"Well, that's it I suppose," said Ranma-chan, causing the two Genins to visibly relax. "Then again, how the heck could you two be leading us without even looking where you're going?"

"What's that supposed to mean? We just remember the way back, that's all."

"To the point that you don't even need to look?"

At that point, Kaname seemed to grow impatient and stepped in. "Ranma, what's up with you? The four of us are a team. There's no reason for you to be suspicious of them."

"It's simple Kaname. Those two are spies," she said, pointing to Mikado and Takako as everybody stopped walking. "They've been with us since last night. The real Mikado and Takako never returned. They were attacked along the way."

"Ranma, what the hell are you saying?" demanded Kaname, not believing what she was hearing. "They didn't act any different from before. Where's your proof?"

"You want proof? Fine, I'll give you proof." Turning to Mikado and Takako she said in a demanding tone. "Alright you two, prove that you are really Takako and Mikado by answering this question. What are your real names?"

"Real names?" Mikado asked, caught off-guard by the question. "What are you talking about? Our real names are Mikado Hyuuga-"

"-And Takako Shinagawa."

"Good answer," said Ranma-chan, causing the two to relax. "But not good enough," she finished, much to the surprise of the other four Genins. "Looks like you missing-nins have to get your information better. Mikado Hyuuga and Takako Shinagawa never existed. They're just the names used by Misami Hyuuga and Fujitaka Hizumi while they're in stealth training."

"Che, looks like we've been discovered brother" Said 'Takako' while 'Mikado' nodded. Smoke enveloped the forms of the two spies and when it disappeared, were replaced by two older people. The woman, taking the place of Takako, had short brown hair and was wearing a lightly colored cloak, obviously made for camouflage in the desert. Her forehead protector was on her left arm, a slash mark visible across the plating that marked her as a missing-nin.

"It seems so, sister," replied the man that took the place of Mikado. The man had the same brown hair as his sister, wearing the same cloak and his forehead protector was on his right arm instead but with the same slash mark on it. "But no matter. They're far enough from those two Jounins that they wouldn't make it in time to save them anyway."

"What? You think we can't take you on?" Genzo replied cockily, stepping forward bravely despite Shizuru trying to tell him not to say anything stupid. "There are five of us and only two of you."

"Perhaps you should look around you brat," replied the woman harshly. Just as she said those words, a large group of missing-nins appeared on the rooftops of the buildings surrounding them as well as in front and behind them with the use of the Sand Body Flicker, a swirl of sand appearing around them as they did. "We out number you eight to one. I was hoping that Konoha would send one of their taijutsu masters but it seems we'll just have to settle for the Copy Nin and the Genjutsu Mistress of Konoha. Either way, none of you will be leaving here alive."

The man and the woman leapt up to the rooftops just as the missing-nins launched a barrage of kunai and shuriken towards the Genins in a way that they would not be able to escape. The twins grinned at the easy kills only for their eyes to go wide when all five Genins turned into smoke just as the weapons struck them. "Wh-What? Shadow Clones?" Exclaimed the woman, still staring at where the group of Genins used to be. "If those were clones then where are those little brats?" The answer to her question came in the form of several loud voices coming from all around them.

"EARTH RELEASE: EARTH SPIKE TECHNIQUE!"

"LIGHTNING RELEASE: GREAT LIGHTNING BARRAGE TECHNIQUE!"

"FIRE RELEASE: GRAND FIREBALL TECHNIQUE!"

"FIRE RELEASE: FIRE DRAGON TECHNIQUE!"

"GENTLE FIST STYLE: EIGHT TRIGRAMS HEAVENLY SPIN!"

"DEMONIC ILLUSION: RIVER OF BLOOD!"

"GREAT CUTTING WHIRLWIND!"

"LIGHTNING RELEASE: THUNDER CLOUD TECHNIQUE!"

All around the pair, they could see most of the other missing-nins going down quickly from the surprise attack from all around them. Temari, Kakashi and his team had come in from the west and south. Kurenai and her team came in from the east and north. The only ones that didn't use any special technique was Kaname and Ranma-chan, the former because she didn't know any and the latter because she couldn't. Instead, they jumped into the fray once the techniques had been unleashed, picking off those they could while they were still stunned from the attacks. They only managed to knock out four before they all jumped back to avoid any more attacks from the Konoha-nins. Out of the 40 missing-nins they attacked, there were only 18 that were unhurt while the others were either knocked out or injured. The man and woman were part of the group that had gotten away unhurt.

The group of Suna-nins had jumped to the center, now standing where the Shadow Clones stood just moments ago. "Looks like you underestimated us" Kakashi looked down upon the remaining members of the group they were watching out for, his left eye now visible to all revealing the Sharingan that he possessed. "Toshiki Yamoto and Chiharu Yamoto I presume?" He asked, looking down towards the twins that were obviously the leaders of the group.

"That's them," confirmed Temari, standing beside Kakashi with her fan open and ready for battle.

"Oh look, if it isn't the Sand Princess," said Chiharu mockingly. "You just made our job easier since you're all here."

"You're surrounded so I suggest you make it easier on yourselves and just give up."

"Surrounded? By what?" Toshiki's head shot backwards as he laughed out loud, sounding like a maniac the whole time. "Three Jounin and seven Genin are hardly enough to take us all down. Even if you did take the others down you still have us to deal with."

"I was hoping you'd say that." The twins turned around to the one blocking their way behind them. Walking closer to them was the red clad Ranma-chan, hands in her pockets as she walked with an air of confidence around her. "Hey Kakashi-sensei, can I fight them now?"

"Just let me get rid of the others first." Kakashi formed a handseal and dispelled his technique. In an instant, all the other missing-nins disappeared into thin air. Grinning behind his mask at the confused looks on Toshiki and Chiharu's faces, Kakashi said, "Did you really think we'd just sit back and let you go on with your plan once we were aware of it? Once we found Mikado and Takako, finding the more secluded ninjas and replacing them with clones was easy enough."

"Looks like the Copy Nin is as smart as we expected."

"I can't take all the credit. If it weren't for Ranma here we wouldn't have found out that you two were spying on us."

"Oh?"

"If it wasn't for that comment he made last night that made you two react nervously I wouldn't have known at all. After all, if Mikado did have his Byakugan activated the entire time then he wouldn't have to be worried about anything. And I have to admit, you've refined your Transformation to the point that even Kurenai didn't notice. As to this place being your base well, I suppose I could chalk it up to Ranma's luck or intelligence, I still haven't decided."

"It's really easy to figure out why they would use this place as a base," called out Ranma-chan from the ground. "Since they would technically own the town, they can make money just by managing the town. They just sell supplies and rent rooms to travelers and they can make a profit like a normal business. Also so long as nobody suspected that they took over the town they could easily stay here and live normally in a sense. They could also watch out for any coming ninjas and observe them before fighting them. And if anyone asks around they could easily mislead them by giving false information."

"Well whatever the case none of you are leaving here alive." Ranma-chan tilted her head to the right to avoid a kunai that was aimed at her head. "And since you seem so eager to fight us you can be the first to die."

"Heh, haven't you heard? Ranma Saotome doesn't lose."

Up on the rooftops, Kakahsi just finished explaining to Temari what had transpired the previous night inside Ranma-chan's room. "So that's why you told us to wait in Ranma's room? Just so that they wouldn't suspect a thing?" Kakashi nodded as he and the others just looked down at the on-going fight. "How did you find where they were keeping Mikado and Takako then?"

"Actually, I think Ranma just got lucky with his guess. Last night he told me, 'Try looking in an abandoned warehouse or something like that. The bad guys always use an abandoned warehouse.'"

"That's why you looked in the storage building?"

"More or less."

Back to the fight between Ranma-chan, Toshiki and Chiharu, Ranma-chan was engaging the pair in a two-on-one high speed battle. She found her opponents an equal match for herself at that point as none of them could get in a decent hit in. Toshiki and Chiharu obviously worked well together. Whenever one was attacking, the other was waiting for their opponent to show any signs of what they would do next before attacking accordingly. Regardless of this Ranma-chan's agility and reflexes allowed her to easily evade or block the incoming attack and use it to her advantage. However, all three of them seemed to be equally matched.

Equally matched, that is, until Toshiki and Chiharu's next words. "You're pretty good little girl," said Chiharu mockingly. "But not good enough."

"You've kept up with us so far and as impressive as that is it won't be enough."

Chiharu and Toshiki both pulled off their cloaks, letting them drop to the ground to reveal their clothing. Both of them were wearing a tight sleeveless shirt with a high collar reaching up their necks with black pants similar to Ranma-chan's own. "You think you're good little girl?" asked Chiharu as she and her brother dropped into a stance. "Well, sorry to say but you're no match for us. We'll show you why we were known as the Twin Demons of Sand."

The twins just grinned as they blurred forward, moving significantly faster than they were earlier on. Ranma-chan raised one arm up just in time to block a roundhouse kick from Toshiki and was turning around for Chiharu's attack but was punched in the side of her head before she could turn all the way. As she flew through the air, Toshiki appeared directly in front of her flight path and raised his knee just as she passed in front of him, hitting her abdomen and halting her flight in one move. He quickly followed that up with an elbow to her back, slamming her down to the ground with powerful force. Bending down, he picked up Ranma-chan's prone body by her head and held her out in front of him.

He cocked back an arm to attack but was literally beaten to the punch as his hostage punched him in the face first, sending him flying back and crashing through the side of the building. Chiharu was soon upon her, raining down countless punches and kicks on the shorter redhead. Although she had blocked some of the punches, a majority was too fast for her to stop and she soon found herself being launched into the air once more, flying through the hole that Toshiki made just seconds ago.

The male twin caught her in the air with a roundhouse to her back, sending her flying out of the building and towards the grinning Chiharu. Everyone on the rooftops flinched when Chiharu and Toshiki struck Ranma-chan at the same time, the former punching Ranma-chan in the gut while the latter kicked her directly opposite where Chiharu struck. Ranma-chan dropped to the ground on her knees, clutching her abdomen in pain as she coughed out blood from the impact of the attack. "Looks like we found your weakness little girl" Said Chiharu and she and Toshiki stood towering above Ranma-chan as they gazed down at her with a victorious smirk on their faces. "Though your eyes can follow our movements your body is much too slow to be able to keep up with us."

"What the hell are you doing Ranma?!" Looking up from the ground with a bloodied lip, Ranma-chan saw Kakashi looking down at him with confusion and annoyance. "Stop playing around and take this seriously."

"Fine, fine. Doesn't hurt to have a little fun after all but, oh well, you're the boss," coughed out Ranma-chan, wiping off the blood her lips. She stood up straight, the twins jumping back just in case. She looked up to Kakashi and said, "Like I said, Ranma Saotome doesn't lose."

"I'll admit you've got guts kid," said Toshiki. "But unless you've got something up your sleeve then there's nothing you can do that'll help you win."

"Is that so? Does stop holding back count as something that won't help?" Rushing forward, Chiharu appeared in front of Ranma-chan in a split second and used her speed to rain down punches upon Ranma-chan, her arms nothing more than a blur as she delivered punch after punch. As opposed to barely two minutes ago, Ranma-chan had no trouble evading each and every punch, her own body a blur of movement as she avoided everything Chiharu threw at her. She nimbly jumped back as Toshiki tried to attack her from the side, moving only a split second before Toshiki attacked. "Now it's my turn."

Ranma-chan rushed towards Chiharu and Toshiki, both of them preparing to defend against whatever Ranma-chan had to offer. Ranma-chan just grinned as she suddenly disappeared in front of their eyes. The two of them looked around to find any trace of Ranma-chan only to find her standing behind them, grinning from ear to ear. Before they could ask what she was grinning for, they both felt something strike their stomachs. Clutching their abdomens in pain, their heads jerked back as they were stuck once again. More invisible strikes rained down on them, all the while Ranma-chan was just standing there fifteen feet away from them.

Up on the rooftops, the others have gathered behind Kakashi and around Temari to keep her safe just in case something unexpected happens. Watching the two missing-nins flinching and jerking around as though being hit by an invisible force was confusing everyone. "What's going on? Is this one of Ranma's techniques that he hasn't shown us yet?"

"No," replied Kakashi, using his Sharingan to watch the fight very carefully. "I can see what he's doing but just barely. What he's doing is quite simple really. He rushes in quickly and punches or kicks them both before moving back into position. He moves so fast that it looks like he isn't moving but if you look carefully you'll see him moving by just a bit"

"But how come he's suddenly so fast?" Almost all of them asked at once. "Why'd he hold back from the start?"

"Give up yet?" Ranma-chan rushed forward and punched them again, still grinning from ear to ear. "Give up yet?" She rushed forward once more, this time kicking them in the side. She kept repeating this over and over, asking them the same question then attacking them before they could have a chance to say anything.

"I'VE HAVE ENOUGH OF THIS!"

The two fighters released a powerful wave of killing intent, freezing the Genins in place while the Jounins and even Ranma-chan remained unaffected. "So, do you give up yet?"

The two let out a strangled yell as they began to form handseals together. "You'll regret what you've done so far," they said in unison through gritted teeth. "Summoning Technique."

A large amount of smoke covered the area as a roar was heard throughout the area. "A summon?" Asked Ranma-chan, raising an eyebrow as she got back into a stance. "Go ahead then. This'll make things more interesting. It doesn't matter to me if you summon a frog, a snake, a dragon or even a phoenix. No matter what animal you call on I'll…"

Ranma-chan stopped speaking abruptly, causing everyone to wonder what was going on. "What's wrong little girl?" Taunted Chiharu from within the smoke. "What happened to all that spirit?"

"Come on Ranma!" Yelled out Kaname. "You can do it! A little summon can't hurt anyone!"

When the smoke blocking their view of Ranma-chan cleared, they could see the look in her eyes as she looked in the direction of her opponents. There was a strange look on her face. From afar, they could see her lips moving but not what she was saying. When the smoke cleared completely, what Kurenai, Mikado and Fujitaka saw made them understand why Ranma-chan was acting the way she was. "Kakashi!" Yelled Kurenai. "Get Ranma out of there!"

"What? Why?"

"Ranma's deathly afraid of cats," explained Mikado in a rush. Unfortunately, the twins on the ground heard him. "He was traumatized by a failed training method from when he was young."

"So the little girl's afraid of cats then?" Asked Chiharu, leaning mockingly towards Ranma-chan as she stepped away from the large tiger she and her brother had summoned. The tiger was unlike any that Ranma had ever seen before, making her doubt that it was a real tiger, in a sense. For one thing, real tigers don't wear clothes, especially not a combat robe. It reminded her somewhat of Gamabunta, the gigantic frog that Naruto summoned to show her an example of a summons, seeing as the tiger was wearing clothes. Or rather, it would have reminded her of Gamabunta were she not staring at it in fear. In addition to that, this tiger was easily twice her own height. Also, tigers don't stand on two legs. "Well, too bad for her then. Akemi, attack that girl."

The tiger roared and lunged towards the girl still standing in the same position, frozen in fear by the large feline in front of her. "C-c-c-c-c-c-ca-ca-ca-ca-ca-CAAAAAAAAAAT!!" A split second before the tiger's claws reached Ranma-chan disappeared, the Akemi's claws slashing through the redhead's afterimage.

Landing on all fours, Akemi looked around for Ranma-chan only to find her standing against the wall of the building, her back plastered to the wall as she was trying to move back. The tiger launched herself at Ranma-chan once more only to achieve the same results as her claws cut through the building's stone walls easily. She roared at Ranma-chan and growled out, "Stop running around!"

"GAH!! TALKING CAT!! TALKING CAT!!"

Getting annoyed by Ranma-chan's actions, Akemi ran towards Ranma-chan, intent on catching her prey this time around. Just as Ranma-chan began to dart to the left, Akemi lunged in that direction and successfully pinned Ranma-chan to the ground, her front paws landing on Ranma-chan's ample bosom. "RANMA!" Kakashi began to run towards Ranma-chan only to find his way blocked by the two taijutsu specialists.

"We can't have you interfering now can we?" Mocked Toshiki. "You had better say goodbye to your student. Although I must say, she is quite an amazing fighter. Makes me wonder why she is still a Genin at her age though." Peeking behind Kakashi, he saw the others preparing to jump down to Ranma-chan's aid. "I suggest you don't move unless you want your little friend to die." Those words caused them all to stop in their tracks in fear of Ranma-chan being killed by the oversized tiger. "Good. Now stay here while I go speak to her."

Jumping down the roof, Toshiki calmly walked over to Ranma-chan, who was shaking badly in fear. She was shaking so much that Akemi was shaking a bit because of her. "You caused a lot of trouble for someone so you. Normally I'd ask you to join us but you're much too powerful to just serve under me so I think I'll kill you now." Those last words prompted the others to react but stayed put, hoping that Ranma-chan would overcome her fear to avoid dying. "Any last words before I kill you?"

They had all expected Ranma-chan to say something. Anything to let them know that she was alright or that she had a plan up her sleeve. However, none of them had expected to hear what came out of her mouth. A long and loud meow was what they heard coming from the teenage girl lying pinned on the ground by a large tiger. They watched as Ranma-chan quickly kicked the tiger off her and proceeded to kick Toshiki's legs from underneath him. When Ranma-chan got up, she was standing on all fours much like Akemi was doing. "Wh-What's this?" They heard Akemi say to herself. "Wh-Why is a feline spirit inside this girl?"

She didn't have time to ponder this as Neko-Ranma-chan lunged towards her, swiping her hand in her direction when she got within range. They all saw the larger tiger avoid the attack. Seeing this made them confused when they saw four slash marks appear on the ground when Neko-Ranma-chan clearly didn't touch it. Another swipe of her hand revealed the reason. At least to Kakashi, as he still had his Sharingan active. "Sh-She has claws?" He gasped out, loud enough for everyone around him, including Chiharu, to hear.

"What? How can she have claws? She's human isn't she?"

"It seems she still hasn't mastered the Cat-fist." The sound of a voice that didn't come from any of them caused them all to whirl around to find the speaker. Standing there behind them all, watching the fight from the roof of a slightly taller building was the childish form of Seera, still wearing the same black cloak from before. "A shame. It would have been quite a sight to see the True Cat-fist in battle."

"You again!" Yelled Temari, whipping her fan in front of her in preparation for a fight. "Are you here for Ranma again? Because if you are don't expect us to let you take her without a fight." Everyone behind her agreed with her words and prepared to fight for their companion.

"I came simply to see the fight," she replied, her attention still on the feline battle between Neko-Ranma-chan and Akemi the tiger. "I was hoping that Ranma had mastered the Cat-fist already but it seems that I still have to wait. It would have been a spectacle to witness it in its true form."

"True form? What are you talking about?"

"What you see before you is the result of the Cat-fist training. Yes, the training regimen was successful and not a failure as you might think. Unfortunately, the training is not yet complete. To be able to utilize the technique properly, one must learn to conquer the fear that comes with the training and cooperate with the spirit inside her."

"And why, may I ask, are you telling us this?"

"I am telling you this because it would not do for Ranma to return to his mother with such a weakness. Especially considering that his mother is quite fond of felines. Ah, the fight is over." Down below them, Neko-Ranma-chan had finally managed to land a decisive blow on the large tiger, causing her to disappear with a puff of smoke covering her trail. "I suppose I had best intervene before he ends up killing someone. If he killed someone in that state then he would never forgive himself." Another portal appeared behind Seera as she stepped backwards into it, disappearing before anyone could say anything.

Looking back down to the ground, they were just in time to see Neko-Ranma-chan swiping at Toshiki. Toshiki avoided the attack but several slash marks appeared on his chest that showed that he was still hit by the unseen claws. Neko-Ranma-chan leapt several feet back and prepared to strike again when a portal opened up in front of her and out stepped Seera. Neko-Ranma-chan stopped her attack and looked curiously up to Seera. She sat on her haunches and regarded Seera with a curious look, tilting her head to the side as well. The others moved to stop whatever it was that Seera was planning to do until they heard her speak. "Well, aren't you a nice little kitty?" She said, kneeling down in front of Neko-Ranma-chan. "Would you like something to eat?" She held her hand out towards Neko-Ranma-chan, her palms open and facing upwards with several small bits of food on it.

Neko-Ranma-chan cautiously stepped forward, moving her head towards the hand and sniffing it at. She took another step closer, not sensing any hostility coming from Seera. Everyone around her was silent as they watched Neko-Ranma-chan approach Seera slowly until her head was right in front of Seera's hand. She looked down at the food Seera was holding out in front of her. She sniffed it before opening her mouth and eating some of it out of Seera's hand. Neko-Ranma-chan appeared to like it as a smile appeared on her face and began to eat the rest of the food Seera was offering to her. It took her only a few seconds to eat everything on Seera's palm and almost as soon as she finished, she dropped to the ground.

"Don't worry," said Seera, cutting off anything that the others in the area might have wanted to say. "She's only asleep. She'll wake up and be back to normal in a few hours. If you don't believe me then you can see for yourself."

"Heh, that's too bad. I wanted to be the one to bring her down myself."

"Unfortunately for you two I can't let you do that," said Seera, shifting her gaze to the twins standing in front of her. "My mission is to take Ranma-sama to Shaika-sama. If he dies then I cannot complete my mission. Therefore, I cannot allow you to kill him."

"Like I care what you say."

"If that's the way you want it then I suppose I have no other option." Seera calmly held her hands out in front of her, the palms of her hands facing one of the two. As she did this, the two missing-nins began to rise off the ground, held up by an invisible force obviously controlled by Seera. She slowly closed her hand as though she was gripping something. At first nobody noticed anything different until they heard Toshiki's strangled cry.

"P-P-Please," he gasped out. He reached a hand up to his throat as though trying to pull something away from it. "D-don't kill… Ch-Chiharu…"

"Oh? And why not?" She shot back calmly in her child-like voice, which sounded out of place with the serious look on her face and the situation at hand. "As I've said, I cannot allow you to kill Ranma-sama. Though I know he can easily defeat you both I do not want to take the risk. Although I've killed thousands in my life I still have my honor. I have yet to kill someone without allowing them a chance to fight back. Though many others and I are killers some of us still have our honor. Even we do not kill the innocent and defenseless."

"W-what m-makes us… so d-d-different?" Asked Chiharu, gasping for air through force constricting her air way. "W-Why kill u-us l-like th-th-this?"

"You are no different from all the others I've killed," she replied. "I will give you a chance to live. Of course, only one of you will live past this day or perhaps neither of you will live depending on what happens." She relaxed her grip and returned her arms to her sides, causing the two siblings to fall down to the ground panting for air. Seera picked up two kunai from the ground and tossed it towards the twins, causing them to look up to her in confusion. "Fight," she said. "I want you two to fight each other until one of you dies. The one who lives will be free to leave."

"Stop it," called out Kakashi. As the leader of the mission and as a ninja of Konoha, therefore an ally of Suna, he knew that killing even one of those two would be a great help in preventing future problems. But what was happening in front of him was clear to him. "That's enough. Even if you're doing this because they're trying to kill Ranma what you're asking them to do is just plain wrong. Ranma wasn't hurt so you shouldn't have to do anything."

"I don't think you understand the position you're in Kakashi Hatake," she replied, her silver eyes looking directly into his black and red ones. "None of you here can stop me even if you all attacked me at once. Even Ranma-sama helping you out with her Chi attacks won't be nearly enough. I can kill all of you before you could even blink. However, as I said, I still have my honor. Therefore, unless you attack me first I will do you no harm." She then turned back to the pair in front of her, neither of them having picked up the kunai in front of them. "Well? What are you two waiting for? If neither of you will fight then I'll just kill you both myself."

"Kill me then," said Toshiki, standing up from the ground and looking up to Seera with a defiant glare. "I've no reason to kill my sister simply for the sake of living. I don't mind dying if she lives. So go ahead. Do you wor-" Toshiki suddenly jerked forward, coughing up a large amount of blood as he stumbled forward. He turned around only for his eyes to widen at what he saw. "Ch-Chiharu? Wh-Why?"

"I… I'm sorry brother" She half-yelled half-sobbed as tears flowed from her eyes and down the side of her face. "I… I just don't want to die." She screamed the last few words as she lunged forward with the kunai in her hand.

Shocked from what he had just heard from his own sibling that he couldn't avoid the kunai as it pierced through his chest and piercing through into the heart. He dropped down to the ground with a heavy thud as he looked up to his sister's eyes. "B-Betrayed…" He whispered out loud as he could feel his life leaving him. "By… my own… sister."

His eyes closed shut as his head turned to the side, his life leaving his body, just as Chiharu dropped down to her knees beside his lifeless body. "Congratulations" Said Seera. "You just earned yourself a one way trip to hell."

"Wh-What? B-But why?" Screeched Chiharu. "I did as you asked. What more do you want from me?"

"I was considering letting you both live had you said what your brother had said. If you had listened then you would have heard that I still have honor. Though your brother plotted to kill someone in his sleep, he was willing to die rather than kill his own sister. You, however, killed your brother simply because you were afraid of death. Well let me tell you this. You cannot escape death." She held her hand out, once again causing Chiharu to rise up in the air. "Give me one reason why I should let you live."

"A-Anything" She gasped out. "I-I'll do… anything…. Y-you want… me… to."

"Wrong answer." She shut her hand and a loud, sickening snap was heard as Chiharu's head fell limp. Seera released her hold over her body, dropping her to the ground beside her brother's body. "I know what you're going to say so keep it to yourself." She said, knowing that everybody remaining had rushed towards Ranma-chan's unconscious form. "I may look young but I have been a live for quite a long time. People do not change in a span of minutes. Sometimes the smallest of changes can take years to manifest itself. A traitor will always be a traitor. She not only betrayed her partner-in-crime, but that man was also her brother, a member of her own family. I have no need for traitors. Especially those that would betray their own family."

She spun around on her heels to face the group, looking directly at Kakashi. "I trust you will keep him safe from any more harm as I cannot always come to his aid," she said. "I have my own agenda outside his mother's requests. We shall meet again." Seera opened up another portal behind her and just like before, stepped into it as it disappeared, taking her along with it.

Making sure that there were no more threats around the area, Kakashi covered his Sharingan eye once more before turning to the others behind him. Kurenai was currently checking on Ranma-chan. "How is he?"

"It's just as that girl said, Ranma's just asleep. There's no trace of any sort of poison in her body that would indicate any danger. However, I do wonder. Why was Ranma acting like that?"

"Fear." Turning towards the sound of the voice, everyone saw a tall woman with solid green eyes and pale blonde hair tied in a ponytail. She was wearing a tight purple halter-top and a short purple skirt. "When someone faces something they're afraid of their fight or flight system kicks in. In her case she tried to escape by running. When the tiger got too close to her and she found no way to escape, her mind shut down from the fear. It's possible that she had somehow created a second personality to deal with her fear of cats. And what better way to deal with a cat, than to create a feline personality."

"Well, that's better than nothing I suppose," said Temari. "What brings you here Ino?"

"I just came from Suna," replied Ino, walking over to the group. "So what happened here? I come to get a room for the night only to find a fight. I saw what happened so there's no need to explain. So who is this girl anyway? And who was the one that helped you?"

"Well, just to keep things simple this is Ranma, the taijutsu specialist Naruto went off to find," explained Kakashi. "And that girl who just left happens to be someone that Ranma's mother knows. She was supposed to take Ranma back with her to meet her mother. But something seems to be bothering Ranma as she didn't want to go."

"There must some bad blood between them if she doesn't want to go."

"More like they've never met before." Kakashi then went on to explain what happened in the forest as they left Konoha as well as Ranma's gender changing condition, explaining it as a Bloodline since the Genins were still present. "Well anyway, looks like we'll have to wait for Ranma to recover."

"Why's that? Can't you just carry her- I mean him to Suna? You've taken care of the missing-nins anyway."

"That's because he wears a weight vest," he explained. "These six tried lifting him up yesterday and he didn't even budge."

"And he just added more weights yesterday," threw in Temari. "Bought twelve of the heaviest they have in stock and put them in the vest. Didn't even bother to see how much it weighed. I don't even think he knows how much the vest weighs."

"Just because you guys can't lift him up doesn't mean that I can't." This statement caused the six Genins to whirl around to her, their eyes bugging out at the thought of Ino lifting Ranma-chan up when they couldn't. She performed the needed handseals for the technique and said, "Mind Body Switch Technique."

When Ino's body fell limp, Kakashi moved to catch her before her body fell. Suddenly, Ranma-chan began to stir. The Jounins and two of the Genins, however, knew that it wasn't Ranma-chan who was moving the body. They all watched as she got up and began to move around, almost as though having forgotten how to walk. She then switched to running before she did a few jumps. "You alright there Ino?"

"I'm fine," she replied with a smile. "Anyway, looks like I'll be going back to Suna. Mind carrying my body for me? Thanks."

"You don't have to come to Suna with us," said Kakashi, leading the way back to the inn they came from. "This is just until we get back to the inn. That girl said that he should be up in a few hours so we'll just wait it out and spend one more night here to give him a chance to recover."

"He really is something," said Ino/Ranma-chan. "He took on two powerful missing-nins by himself. He even fought them using their specialty, taijutsu. Too bad the fight was spoiled when he saw the tiger. Makes me wonder just how strong he really is. What do you guys think?"

"You weren't there so it's obvious why you don't know" Said Kurenai. "Naruto tested Ranma himself. It seems that Ranma is strong enough that he can force Naruto to use his special Chakra."

"He's that good?"

Kakashi just shook his head, leading the group through the now abandoned town towards the inn. "I believe Naruto's words were, 'No, good doesn't describe him enough. You'll have to throw in clever and resourceful as well. In a way, he reminds me of how I fight, using deception and the simplest tricks to pull of complex plans.' That was Naruto's evaluation of him and I have to agree. Even without the use of his special abilities, Ranma is still a formidable opponent. In fact, Lee declared Ranma his new rival."

"He did?" She asked, her eyes widening at the implications. "Neji must have been deliriously happy to hear that. So does that mean that he thinks that he's a much better opponent than Neji? This kid must really something if Naruto and Lee think so highly of him. And by the way you're speaking you think highly of him too."

"That's because I do think highly of him," replied Kakashi, Kurenai nodding her agreement on the subject. "He's only a Genin because Naruto wants him to learn properly. In fact, his training schedule includes training with Kurenai, Kiba, Neji, Sakura, Hinata and myself on a daily basis. In terms of being a ninja, he's only as good as a low level Chuunin or a powerful Genin. But his overall skills match that of a Jounin."

"But if he's as good as a Jounin then why the special training?"

"That was the deal that was offered to Naruto in exchange for Ranma's help. Ranma helps us out until the war is over and we train Ranma."

"And we can trust him not to reveal anything we keep secret?"

"Naruto trusts him so we should trust him as well. Besides, Ranma here is like Naruto, he never breaks a promise." Walking into the inn, Ino/Ranma-chan lay on the bed before returning to her body, which Kakashi had placed on the bed next to Ranma-chan. "Now all we need to do is to wait for him to wake up."

"If you don't mind," said Ino, getting up from the bed and walking over to the window. "I'll stay a while longer. If this kid is going to be any help then we'll need to fix this fear of his. If Iwa or Kumo get wind of his weakness then he'll basically be useless. Since it's a mental problem I may be able to help before you guys leave for Suna and before I leave for Konoha."

"Well that's your decision so I can't really say anything against it. Although it makes me wonder. Naruto said that his spies reported that Kumo and Iwa are planning to attack us. It's been a month since that so it's making me restless the longer Iwa and Kumo take."

Looking out the window Ino sighed. "You're right. I wonder what Naruto's planning to do to stop them?"

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"Is everything ready then?"

"Everything is ready, Hokage-sama," replied the ANBU standing before Naruto. "We've checked every inch of Konoha for any weaknesses that Iwa and Kumo may exploit should they make it this far. The border camps have been alerted to watch out for approaching ninjas and to watch for any sign of that ninja you spoke of. The ANBU has at least one member in each camp and have a rotating watch over Konoha and the surrounding forest along with the Jounins."

"And Suna? Has there been any word on their progress?"

"A messenger came earlier today and stated that they have adopted the same line of defenses as Konoha. Also, we have another request from the Kazekage." The man waited for a moment before Naruto told him to proceed. "He requests aid in finding Shukaku."

"Sh-Shukaku?!" Naruto shot out of his seat, sending the papers he was working on flying around the desk. "Are you sure that's what he said?"

"I'm positive. It seems that he wishes to utilize the power of the demon once again in order to protect Suna."

Naruto slowly sank down to his seat and adopted a thinking pose, shutting his eyes as he thought about the request from the Kazekage, Gaara. 'I suppose I should have expected something like this to happen this time around,' he thought. 'We were caught off-guard last time and now that we have ample time to prepare I guess that Gaara would want to make sure that he could protect Suna. And what better way to protect a desert city than with the aid of a Sand Demon.' He slowly opened his eyes and looked up to the ANBU commander awaiting his commands. "Alright Fox, send out Neji Hyuuga and Kiba Inuzuka to search for Shukaku's current container. Those two are familiar with it so they should have no problems finding and differentiating it from the other tailed beasts."

"Understood. Will there be anything else?"

Naruto nodded as he pulled out a black folder from the file cabinet beside him and handed it to the ANBU commander. "Inside that folder is a list of powerful ninjas that may cause us trouble when they finally decide to attack us. A photo is included as well as a quick summary of their abilities. If you believe that the ANBU can take out any of them then do so. The last one on that list is extremely dangerous from what I've been told. You are to avoid her at all costs."

Opening the folder, he looked through the names until he came upon the last one. "H-Hokge-sama! A-Are you serious about this? Is this report accurate?"

"As accurate as it can get," he replied, almost as though he didn't wish it were true. "My source witnessed those skills and abilities first-hand and was even required to fight against her during her training. If what my source tells me is true then only a Kage level ninja or one of the Sannin can match up to her. Of course, the latter isn't an option considering what happened before. That only leaves Gaara and myself to deal with her. That is, if we can even hurt her."

"Very well," he replied, shutting the folder. "Is there anything else I should know about?"

"No." With that the man disappeared in a swirl of leaves, leaving Naruto to his thoughts. Sighing heavily and rubbing the side of his temple with his fingers, Naruto stood up from his seat and walked towards the door. He looked towards the pictures of the previous Hokages that were hanging on the wall. "I promise," he said to the pictures as though talking to the five of them in person. "I promise that I'll protect this village. I'll keep it standing just as you all did. Even at the cost of my life."

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While all this was going on, a certain red haired ninja was looking out the window of his office, looking down upon the village he calls home. "Tell me," he said in a rough voice. "What do you think our chances are against Iwa and Kumo if what Naruto tells me is true?"

"What did he say?" Asked the woman standing behind him. The woman came up to his shoulders, she had long brown hair and a caring look on her face that was accentuated by her warm forest green eyes. "I'm sure it can't be that bad." The man just handed her a letter, passing it over his shoulder for her to read. She took the letter in her hands and began to read it.

_Gaara,_

_I've sent a group to escort Temari back to Suna just as you requested. Of course, I didn't send Lee or Gai with them. You remember that taijutsu specialist I went off to find? Well, he's with them. This will give you a chance to meet him. He's young but he's powerful, I can attest to his strength. You can fight him if you want to test him yourself. I'm sure he'd like to test himself against your defense and I'm sure you'd enjoy the challenge. That is of course, if he can access his special abilities by the time he gets there. Long story short, his abilities were sealed away as part of his training. _

_Anyway, I've got some bad news from my contact. Apparently, Iwa and Kumo have a secret weapon that they found inside the remnants of Orochimaru's lair in the form of a young girl. I don't know where she came from as only Orochimaru's journal has the exact details but I suspect that she was his next chosen body since Sasuke was killed before he could transfer into his body. I know what you're thinking and I was too until I read the rest of the report. They're training her to be the ultimate ninja. The most recent reports show that she has the skills of someone above ANBU level but still below Kage level. That isn't what's worrying me though and it isn't why Orochimaru wanted her body. My contact overheard the Raikage and the Tsuchikage speaking with each other. If what they said is true then we're in trouble. I won't explain right now how it happened, just that she has the Bloodline of the Mutsumi Clan. I'm sure you remember how tough they were so that should be enough to tell you how bad the situation is especially if she can fight a large group of ANBU by herself. I included a list of the ninjas my contact deems dangerous when they finally decide to attack us. Make sure that all your ninjas know who they are so that they can avoid them or kill them if possible. Be sure to avoid the last one on the list. She's their secret weapon and the most dangerous of them all. _

_I also heard that _**he **_was spotted in Wind Country. Be careful Gaara. There's no telling how much stronger he's gotten from when we last fought him. I know that I don't have to remind you about what happened last time so you should just avoid contact with him if at all possible. Anyway, I'll keep you updated on whatever I learn including the possible attack date. Take care._

_Naruto_

The woman finished reading the letter and set it down on the desk as she turned towards Gaara. "I'm not a ninja so I can't really relate to what's going on. But I do know that you and Naruto are two of the most powerful people I know. I'm sure you'll get through this."

"Thank you, Motoko," he replied smiling a bit. Looking out towards the village, he caught sight of a familiar teenager and said, "Looks like Saicho is back from his mission. Why don't you go greet him?"

"You should too you know," replied Motoko. "After all, he's not just my son. He's yours as well."

Gaara only smiled before the pair walked out of the office to greet their son.

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Within the land bordering Earth Country and Lightning Country, two armed escorts were traveling towards one specific location. One group came from the Lightning Country while the other from Earth Country. The two groups looked like a group of merchants and their caravans being escorted by ninjas but had anyone looked inside the caravans, they would have seen two of the most powerful people in the land. One of was the Tsuchikage, leader of Iwa, and the other was the Raikage, leader of Kumo. Both of them sat patiently inside the caravans amongst their best ninjas as well as dozens of boxes filled with supplies. Although they were Kages of their villages, they were wearing plain clothing for that occasion. The Tsuchikage wore a green haori while the Raikage wore a yellow haori.

In only a matter of hours the two groups had arrived at their destination, a small village that had been abandoned years ago during the war against Orochimaru. Getting the signal from their respective ninjas, the two leaders exited the caravans and went to greet each other. The two bowed to each other, a sign of respect that showed that neither of them thought of the other as inferior to them. Or perhaps, that's what they may have wanted the other to see.

"How have you been Minoru-san?" Asked the Tsuchikage, turning towards the town as they both began to walk in.

"I've been fine Shiori-san. The last time we met was back when your father was still the Tsuchikage. It's been twenty years since that day and I must say you've certainly grown up to be a fine young woman. Asides from that you've certainly made quite a name for yourself since we last met."

The woman known as Shiori just continued walking forward as she replied. "It's easy to when you're not only the youngest Tsuchikage, but also the youngest of all the Kages so far. Then again, that's not the only reason I'd become well known over the years."

"Quite true," replied Minoru. "I dare say that many people easily mistake you for someone much older mainly due to your abilities and the way you handle things. Many have also forgotten that you're still young because not just anyone your age can accomplish what you have."

"I just do what I have to. Although going to war with Konoha isn't something I'd want to be doing so soon after fighting against Orochimaru and Oto, just the thought of going against a powerful opponent gets me excited. Normally I wouldn't be doing this but with our new weapon we can most definitely win." She chuckled darkly as the pair entered a run down building in the center of the town. Walking to the basement of the building, they walked right through the wall, obviously a Genjutsu, and proceeded into the secret room. "Though they are not bound by blood and she now lives a cursed life, she still considers that man her father. Perhaps it was something he passed onto her in some way, his… unique way of thinking."

"Agreed."

Walking down the cavern hidden underneath the town, the two of them soon came across a simple bridge that was connected with the top floor of a tall tower, hidden deep underground. The tower was once used as a retreat for the nearby towns in case a war broke out and the fighting got too close to them. They would move underground where they would stay until they could once again return to their respective towns. The town right above the underground tower is home to many former ninjas that either have retired or was critically injured that they could no longer resume their duties.

The top floor of the tower had four bridges leading out of it, each bridge leading to an underground passage that led to the seven nearby villages. Some of the townspeople would go to the tower once a week to ensure that everything was in working order. Once everybody was inside the tower, the bridges would be raised to prevent anyone from entering. From there, they would live underground, living on the supplies they would store in the tower before hand and the fish they could catch from the underground river.

During the war with Orochimaru the towns were wiped out before they could evacuate into the tower. The bodies of the villagers, dead or alive, were used for Orochimaru's perverse experiments. Now that the towns had been destroyed, the tower was left unused for the rest of the war. It was only a year before the war ended that a group of Kumo-nin discovered the tower by accident. Since then, Kumo has been using the tower for their own purposes and now that they're allied with Iwa, they too have moved some of their ninjas to the tower. It was also in that tower that their secret weapon was being held.

Walking down by two floors, they entered the large training room located there. Inside the room, they found five people, all of them engaging in a four-on-one battle. Their target was a young girl around the age of eight. She had short, wild auburn hair with streaks of white. Two of her opponents were Iwa-nins wearing the ANBU uniform of Iwa. The other two were Kumo-nins wearing their respective ANBU uniform. She herself was wearing a modified ANBU uniform. It was completely black with sleeves reaching her wrists instead of being sleeveless. She wore black cargo pants with numerous pockets and the opening of the pant legs were tight enough around her ankles to keep her from having any accidents with it should it get in the way.

She lashed out with a kick towards the closest Kumo ANBU which connected with the man's chest. The man disappeared in a puff of smoke but the girl didn't seem bothered by this. Instead she seemed to disappeared just as the same ninja's fist punched through where she stood earlier. He received a punch to the abdomen as soon as she reappeared only to disappear and reappear with her knee in the other Kumo-nin's face. She jumped away before the Iwa ANBU could grab her but was punched in the abdomen by the other. She didn't show any sign of getting hurt. The punch didn't even appear to have any effect on her as she retaliated with a vicious punch that broke the man's nose.

"That's enough," said the Tsuchikage, walking towards the group with the Raikage beside her. "All of you proceed to the waiting room except for you." She pointed her finger at the young girl while the others began to leave.

As soon as the others left the room, she turned back to the young girl and looked at her without saying anything, almost as though she was expecting something. Then at an unseen signal, the two rushed towards each other. From the sidelines, the Raikage watched as Shiori began her weekly test of the girl's skills. Although she was just a little over half his age, Shiori was incredibly powerful and easily a match for any of the other Kages save for the Hokage, whose guest easily allowed him to defeat her.

Both the Raikage and the Tsuchikage were impressed by the girl's level of growth. They had found her three years ago in the remnants of Orochimaru's lair and had been training her since then. Though at first they had ignored her due to her age, reading through his journal and learning what she was capable of convinced them otherwise. She had started out with the level of an academy ninja and in only three years she could battle a Kage one-on-one without the Bloodline she received from her father, if you could call him that. 'To think that if it wasn't for that man and his insane ideas then we would not have someone that could grow more powerful than the Hokage.'

"Alright, that's enough." Both fighters stopped when Shiori called for a halt nearly an hour later. Shiori looked slightly winded while the other girl wasn't even breathing hard. "You've definitely improved from the past week. But for now return to your quarters. We'll send for you if you're needed."

"Understood." The girl nodded and bowed to her and to Minoru before leaving the room.

As soon as she left the room, Shiori and Minoru left the room as well, going up one floor to where the meeting room was. "She's certainly improved over the past week," she commented, rubbing her knuckles and her arms. "Just last week she could barely keep up with me and now she can put up a decent fight."

"About that. Don't you think that she may be getting too powerful?" Asked the Raikage, concern showing on his face. "By continuing her training and allowing her to grow stronger we run the risk of losing everything should she turn against us. I know you're not stupid so I'll assume you have something to keep her from betraying us."

Shiori chuckled at that and said, "You're right. I did count on that and I've already done something. I placed the Seal of Torture on her before we began her training. It was something I was researching on just in case we need to ensure loyalty among our ranks. It's similar to the Caged Bird Seal that the Hyuugas used in the past. But unlike the Caged Bird Seal, it can only cause pain whenever we want to. Killing them is not an option."

"And how do we do that?"

"The master seal," she replied, pulling out a short scroll with an intricate seal on it. "This seal controls the seal that I placed on her." She held out the scroll for Minoru to take, which he did, before returning to her explanation. "I have another one with me so you can take that. A simple continuous application of Chakra is all that is needed. The more Chakra is used the more pain it causes to her. Not even her acquired Bloodline can protect her from it."

"I see."

Walking into the room to their left, they looked around the room and saw that the others had only been waiting for them. Taking their seats, Shiori turned to the man to her left and nodded for him to begin. "Right, I believe you all know what we're here for so I won't keep you any longer. We are here to discuss our plan off attack against Konoha and their ally, Suna."

Pulling out a large scroll, he placed it on the table and unrolled it on the table, revealing a map of Fire Country and Wind Country from an aerial point of view. "As you're all aware, both Konoha and Suna are formidable villages, Konoha especially considering that only Orochimaru has successfully penetrated it undetected. The Hyuuga Clan is especially useful in detecting intruders but even they can be avoided. Trying to invade the village directly would be foolish so we will take another option. We attack them in broad daylight."

This caused an uproar amongst those that were not part of the group that planned the best possible attack. A majority of those in the room were now on their feet, yelling at the man and those who were seated calmly for an explanation of why they should attack during the daytime instead of trying for a surprise attack. Those who knew of the plan simply awaited for the others to become impatient and sit down so that they could finally speak. Once everybody was seated and silent, the man continued to speak once more. "As I said, trying to attack the village directly is foolish so we plan to attack them in the daytime."

"And how do you expect that to succeed?"

"What we plan to do is simple. We will attack one of the border camps. We simply ensure that one of them escapes to warn Konoha. They will undoubtedly come to meet us in order to protect their village from danger. While this is happening, we will turn that camp into our own to provide us with supplies as well as to treat the wounded. Once were done with that we advance towards Konoha and meet their army three miles away from the border camp. Our forces will then be divided into three." He pulled out three tiles from his robes and placed them close to Fire Country's border. They were marked with Iwa and Kumo. "The first and the smallest will be the one that will initiate the attack. They will be positioned here." He placed the first tile a few miles from the north gate. "Once the enemy is aware of us they will engage us." He took out another tile marked Konoha and placed it directly in front of the first tile. "The other two groups will then engage them from both sides like so." He placed the remaining two tiles on either side of the 'Konoha' tile. "While this is all happening, our weapon will then seek out the Hokage and kill him, killing any and all shinobi in it's path."

"And what makes you so certain that the weapon could defeat their Hokage?"

"The current Hokage is known to be sympathetic to those who have been mistreated as well as those who have been forced to kill at a young age. Because of this he will try to convince her not to work for us and that she would not be forced to do anything while in Konoha."

"And you plan to play on this weakness by making it look as if she is being forced to participate in the war against her will?"

"Correct. He will let his guard down long enough for her to deal a killing blow or if he realizes it, a critical blow. Either way, he will be weakened enough for her to kill him in a straight fight."

"But what of the fox?"

"One thing we have gathered is that his body can only handle a fraction of the fox's Chakra before the fox takes over his body. He would not dare allow the fox control of his body especially with so many Konoha shinobi in the area. Also, the more wounded he is the less of the fox's Chakra he can use as it is used to heal him of injuries."

"So the more wounded he becomes, the less of the Kyuubi's Chakra he can use?" Asked one of the men in the room. "And if he does use it's Chakra then the healing process is slowed?"

"Correct. Therefore all of our elite shinobi should concentrate on attacking Uzumaki from afar so as not to get in the way of our weapon."

"When do we attack?"

"We attack two weeks from now," replied the Raikage, standing up from his seat while the other man sat down. "This will give us time to gather our forces and plan our attack against the border watch."

"But what if the Hokage will not accompany them to battle?"

"If there is one that all Kages have in common, it is the dislike for paperwork." This earned a few chuckled from the group, knowing just how much paperwork a Kage had to complete. "He will undoubtedly come out to battle instead of sitting back and watching. That brat is too much like his father to just stay back and let his own soldiers do the fighting for him. Are there any other questions?" When nobody spoke, he nodded and said, "Very well then. You shall all be informed of where our forces shall rendezvous before we begin our attack."

Everybody left quickly after that, leaving only the Raikage and the Tsuchikage inside the room. "That went better than expected," commented the Tsuchikage, rising from her own seat as the two leaders of the two villages left the room as well. "I had expected more complications especially from the more battle-oriented people."

"They didn't put up a fuss but I'm sure they're grumbling on the inside about how they wanted to prove their might by conquering the village immediately."

They traveled through the tower, checking up on everything to make sure that everybody was working and that everything was going as planned and on schedule. In many cases the two of them simply asked how it was going before moving on but a few times they stayed and asked more specific questions about their research and/or experiments. Satisfied that everything was going well, they dropped by one more room along the way to their quarters.

Inside the room, they saw the same eight-year-old girl, sitting cross-legged on the ceiling with her eyes shut. Upon sensing their presence, the girl opened her eyes and dropped down to the ground, flipping herself upright to land on her feet. She bowed to them both in greeting before asking, "Is there something I can do for you, Tsuchikage-sama? Raikage-sama?"

Shiori nodded and reached into her clothing, pulling out a folder and placing it on the table. "These are your targets for the coming battle. Study your targets and their abilities well. You are to kill them should you encounter any of them. None of them are of great importance compared to your main target so attack and kill them only if you encounter them on the battlefield. If they are not in the immediate area or have fled then you are not to pursue them."

"Understood," she replied monotonously, taking a seat on the desk and opening the folder. "Who is my main target among these?" She asked, leafing through the files as she took into memory the faces of her targets. When she came upon the picture of a man with spiky blonde hair, the Tsuchikage reached out and stopped her. Reading through the man's file, she once again committed to memory the picture and all the known abilities as well as every other detail listed about him. "So I am to target the Hokage then?"

"Correct. We shall leave you now. I expect you to be in your best condition two weeks from now. By then you should be ready to fight one of his level. You know what awaits you should you fail, Satsuki."

"Understood."

"Good. I will be taking over your training for the next two weeks. I will see you in the morning." The two Kages left the room and proceeded to walk to the lower parts of the tower where their quarters were located.

Inside her room the girl known as Satsuki continued to read through Naruto's file before proceeding to do the same to the other files she was given. Once she had memorized all the details needed, she placed everything back into the folder before taking a quick breath and blowing out a fireball, incinerating the folder in only a few seconds. "Naruto Uzumaki," she said as she jumped to the ceiling, returning to the position that Shiori and Minoru found her in. "You will suffer the same fate as my father."

_END OF CHATER 5_

**Anyway, this is the end for this chapter. So how was it? Please click on the 'GO' button at the bottom of the page and tell us what you think of this chapter. Like it? Hate it? Love it? Despise it? Comment? Suggestion? Flames? Criticisms? Any and all is welcome as nothing you say can discourage us, only motivate us to write better, if we can.**

**Until next time then.**


	16. Arc 2 Chapter 6

Terms of Engagement

Terms of Engagement

By Overlord of Order and Overlord of Chaos

**SUMMARY: What if many of the on-goings involving Genma and Nodoka was all a hoax? What if most of what they've said was a lie? What reason could they have to lie to so many people? What does it have to do with Ranma's future?**

_**weebee**_**: I know that Seera's strong but as a note, she is a demon after all. All I can tell you without giving away anything important is that Ranma will grow to her level. Also, she is all knowing for a reason which will be revealed in the future. **

_**e-squared:**_** Yes, I will tell you guys who Satsuki's father is but not now. I won't give you any clues as to who it is but just so you know, the father is present in both the anime and the manga. **

_**Sargon Dorsai:**_** Eh… I really can't say anything without spoiling stuff for you. Basically this, Gaara no longer having Shukaku inside him, is something you'll have to find out in the current arc of the Naruto anime or by reading the manga. **

_**keichan2:**_** Thanks for pointing out that missing statement. I guess I forgot to save it after changing what I was supposed to put there. Thanks.**

_**Anonymous:**_** Thanks. At, di pwede na madaming chapter na maupdate na mabilis since College student din kami eh. Busy kami with schoolwork at kahit kung wala kaming ginagawa, mahirap din makumpleto yung chapter mas lalo na kung gusto naming maganda ung chapter. Di pwede na lagay lang ng lagay na kahit ano so chapter eh, kailangan ding pagisipan ung ilalagay. Yung isang story on hold na muna since uulitin naming yun from the start.**

**Once again, we thank you for your reviews especially your comments on the story. Nothing much left to say except, here's the next chapter.**

_Arc 2: Ninja Training_

_Chapter 6: This Means War_

Two weeks. It had been two weeks since Ranma's first mission which happened to be escorting Temari, the Suna Ambassadress and sister of the Kazekage, to Suna because of the danger of missing-nins. Two weeks since his first meeting with Seera and the revelation of his mother and his heritage. Two weeks since he had last entered his feline state. And two weeks since his battle against Gaara, the Kazekage.

The memory of the battle was still in his mind as he continued to focus his Chi without the aid of his emotions. The fight was just as intense as his fight with Naruto, both of them having been pushed to the limit by their fight. Gaara's control of the sand impressed Ranma greatly but had underestimated the older man. He quickly assumed that Gaara was weak in terms of close range combat and closed the gap with his speed. He learned in the worst possible way that Gaara had overcome that weakness and had become quite proficient in taijutsu especially when he could control small amounts of sand just by channeling his Chakra into the sand he carried with him.

He had lost the fight without even landing a punch on Gaara. He had said this out loud in frustration but Gaara calmed him down saying that there were only four people alive who could manage to get close enough for him to fight hand-to-hand. "And now there are five" He had said with a look of respect on his face.

Upon Temari's request, Ranma had stayed behind for another week for the reason that she could help him learn how to use his Wind Chakra. And seeing as the only other person left in Konoha that had an affinity for Wind Chakra was Naruto, Kakashi, the leader of the mission, allowed it and asked Kurenai to take the Genins back to Konoha while he stayed behind so that he could escort Ranma back to Konoha after the week was over. During that week, he had learned several new wind techniques from Temari such as the Cutting Whirlwind Technique, Great Breakthrough and Barrier of Wind. Although the techniques were still sloppy and used up too much of his Chakra, both Temari and Kakashi simply told him that he would get it with practice.

He had gotten back to Konoha three days later and learned that his stealth training and tracking training would be on hold due to Kiba and Neji having been sent out on a mission that could possibly take weeks or months to complete. Instead of training with those two Naruto told him that Ino had requested that she help him with his fear of cats. He had been told after he had awoken from his sleep that he would have to learn to face his fears and get over it otherwise he would be useless in the war if his fear was known among enemy ranks. He told them that he would try but didn't guarantee anything.

Now that Ino had taken over Neji and Kiba's training time with Naruto, he spent two hours before and after dinner with the blonde Jounin trying to help him conquer his fears. The first session they had together Ino tried to just show him a picture of a cat, earning no reaction from Ranma as he said that he had gotten over seeing pictures of cats and such and that only the real thing still bothered him. She left him for a while and came back with a box. She hadn't even opened the box when Ranma suddenly began to shiver and back away from her or rather the box in her hands.

She put the box down behind a tree and walked up to Ranma. Upon asking why he was already afraid without even seeing the cat he said, "It's been like that since I learned how to recognize someone or something by their aura. When one of those things are near me I can feel it's aura and that's usually enough for me to know that there's one nearby."

It was slow but they were progressing. Though it took four days, Ranma was no longer bothered by the simple feel of a cat's presence. Seeing a cat was still a problem they were working on and that was what they had been trying up until half an hour ago. That was when Ino left seeing as their time was up and warned him not to try it on his own just to be on the safe side. Ranma opted to stay and continue his own training, still trying to destroy Happosai's Chi barrier with his own. He spent several more hours trying to break through but all his attempts failed. There were a few times when his Chi was free of emotion but he had allowed his focus to waver, thus making his attack unsuccessful.

"Still having trouble?"

Breaking his concentration, Ranma's shoulders slumped down as sweat continued to pour down his face, his raven black hair dripping with sweat as well. His breathing was heavy and ragged as he glanced out of the corner of his eyes to see who it was. Spotting a hint of pink from his peripheral vision he immediately surmised who it was. Still trying to regain his breath, he just nodded and picked up a towel he had with him to wipe the sweat off his face. He heard the sound of something metallic being placed on the ground and the sound of metal sliding against metal before a delicious smell entered his nostrils.

"You shouldn't push yourself so hard you know," said Sakura with a look of concern on her face. She reached into the delivery box and pulled out a bowl of ramen. "Sorry," she said, handing the bowl and chopsticks to Ranma. "It's just about the only place open late at night since Naruto usually stops by when he's working late at night."

"Nah, it's alright." Smiling in gratitude, Ranma took the bowl and placed it on the ground in front of him. He broke the chopsticks apart, picked up the bowl and began eating. "When you're on a diet like mine you learn to appreciate whatever food you have."

"You're on a diet? From the way you eat it certainly doesn't seem like it".

"It's a see food diet. Whenever you see food, you eat it because you never know when the next meal is coming." Sakura stared at him a bit before understanding the small joke and laughing lightly while Ranma just smiled. "What time is it anyway?"

"It's almost eleven. And honestly, you and Naruto really are alike. Even the way you eat is the same." She added the last statement upon seeing Ranma slowly eating his food. However, that one action caused Sakura to think that something was wrong. 'It's like he's worried about something.' She had noticed this when she saw how slowly Ranma was eating as just like Naruto would when he was troubled. Neither of them usually ate at such a slow pace unless something was wrong.

It was still a strange sight to her and many of Naruto's close friends. Here was a boy almost eighteen years of age whose personality was almost an exact replica of Naruto before he had become Hokage. Both were kind to a fault, willing to give their lives to save the life of another. Both were hardworking, going to far as to exhaust themselves completely during their training. The way they act makes them looks like idiots most of the time but when in a battle they were very clever and cunning, devising plans on the fly.

Often times their plans only required the simplest of techniques to be executed. Though only devised in moments, they could plan several steps ahead in a way that only those gifted in strategy and the members of the Nara Clan such as Konoha's top strategist, Shikamaru Nara, could counter in the same moment. Both were full of surprises and were known to do things on a whim, doing it simply because they wanted to instead of doing what would be logical.

However, both were also complete opposites in some aspects. While Naruto was known to kill an enemy shinobi in battle, Ranma would spare them and simply knock them out as demonstrated when he and Kakashi were attacks by bandits on their way back to Konoha. He claimed that he didn't need to kill them and that was it. They all know that Naruto would throw his emotions out the window when in a serious battle. In Ranma's case he allowed his emotions to run free, a smile on his face that indicated that he was enjoying the fight. And as Kakashi had seen and reported to Naruto, Ranma, during his fight with Gaara, could use his emotions to drive him to fight better. His frustration at not being able to hit Gaara only drove him to strike harder and faster in an effort to hit the red haired Kazekage even once. And yet even with his emotions running free he was still focused on the fight, not allowing himself to make any mistakes that would lead to an early defeat.

Since Ranma got back to Konoha, Naruto brought up the topic of Ranma's decisions when it came down to fighting and in relation, killing. Most of the arguments they had seen Ranma partake in, he usually played as a mediator or would just say something like how they were different people and thus their opinions would be different but neither one is wrong. Hearing that topic come up brought out a side of Ranma that they haven't seen before. A Ranma who had unleashed his anger.

Both gave sound and solid arguments as to why they should kill/not kill the enemy. In only two days the discussion soon turned into a heated debate where both were just about yelling at each other. Each one always managed to cancel out what the other said up until a point where Ranma found a flaw in Naruto's words or at least, that's what everyone thought. What Ranma said earlier that day surprised everyone who was present at that time as they knew that even Naruto couldn't say anything to counter what the younger boy said without having to agree that Ranma's way of thinking was much better regarding killing.

_FLASHBACK_

"What is a ninja?" Naruto asked Ranma. They had been arguing for the past half hour over the same topic that Naruto had brought up the day that Ranma had arrived in their world. "How would you, someone who comes from a place where there are no ninjas, describe a ninja?"

"Just so you know, there are ninjas back home but that was a long time ago." Ranma was silent for a moment, thinking about his answer and thinking back to what he learned about ninjas in his world. He summarized it in only a few words. "Ninjas are assassins." Before Naruto could reply, Ranma continued. "Ninjas serve and protect a lord who usually ask them to kill one of their enemies in order to win a battle or to simply be able to gain something they want. In a _war_, the ninjas are asked to assassinate powerful people and sometimes the leader of the opposing army to weaken the enemy and end the war sooner."

"So you see," He continued quickly, not giving Naruto a chance to reply. "I do know what a ninja is. And what you are asking me to be is not a ninja in my opinion. In my opinion you're asking me to be a killer, a weapon." At that last word, Naruto seemed to flinch. Everybody, save Ranma, noticed this and knew what he was immediately thinking. "Or better yet a mercenary, someone who is usually hired to kill someone. Or maybe even a demon who kills without remorse." There were mixed reactions at that last statement, the strongest coming from Naruto as he subconsciously placed one hand on the seal that kept the demon inside him at bay. "What if they send a kid out there to fight? Do you expect me or the other ninjas to kill the kid too just because the kid's our enemy?"

There was a long moment of silence between Ranma's last statement and his next. "Look," he continued, taking a deep breath and letting it out, calming himself down to prepare for what he has to say. "To quote someone I know, there will come a time that you will see me kill but that time is still to come. Personally I don't think that time will ever come but knowing my luck it might even be tomorrow." He sighed before saying. "I don't tell you how you should do things so you shouldn't tell me how to do things. I'll do things my way, you do things your way. You want someone dead… go ask someone else because personally the only time I'll ever kill someone of my own decision is if that person is threatening to kill someone close to me. And you already know what happened to the last guy who did." And with that he left the room.

With a quick apology from Kurenai, the scarlet eyed Jounin left with Misami and Fujitaka in tow, leaving Sakura, Hinata and Naruto in the room. Excusing herself, Sakura left the room as well, a smirk and a somewhat evil look on her face that went unnoticed by the pair. Once the pink haired medic-nin was gone, Naruto slumped in his seat, thinking over what just happened. "Hinata." His wife looked down at his face, worry etched all over her features. Just by the way that he had addressed her she could already tell how serious it was. "Have I really changed so much that I'm asking someone to kill? That I sound as if I was expecting him to kill without remorse? Even kids?"

Hinata immediately understood Naruto's worries and leaned down to his level, reaching around his neck with both arms to embrace him. "People change Naruto. Especially after going through what we've been through. Going through a war that we couldn't win and losing just about everyone that was precious to you can change anybody."

"It's just…" Naruto sighed heavily. "He reminds me too much of how I used to think. It was that kind of thinking that nearly got Keiji and Kotoko killed when Iwa and Kumo attack the first time around. I hated myself at that time and just seeing him with the same kind of thinking is making me think that others might die because of his mistake and that this time nobody would be there to save them."

"Looks like you've changed more than you thought," commented Hinata. The comment earned her a confused look from her husband. "Back then you wouldn't have said anything like that. If someone said those words in front of you then you would have told them that you trusted Ranma not to let his friends and comrades get hurt." She frowned a bit upon seeing Naruto frown at the implications of her statement. "I'm not saying that you've become less trusting Naruto-kun. Just that you've become more cautious. It's not a bad thing but you have to trust others to do the job right. You shouldn't keep worrying over whether or not they can do the job without someone important dying on you. Instead, you should concentrate on making sure that you send in the right people this time around instead of going with what you did before."

Thinking about her words, Naruto smiled softly as he leaned into his wife's embrace. "Thanks Hinata-chan," he whispered softly. "I needed that."

"Anytime, Naruto-kun. Anytime."

Outside the Hokage's office, a certain medic-nin walked away after hearing their conversation. "I wonder what he'll do differently this time around?" She asked herself, with the same look on her face from earlier.

_END FLASHBACK_

"Hey, Sakura-san?"

Sakura was brought out of her musings when Ranma called out her name. When she turned to look at him she saw a look of worry all over his face. "What's wrong?"

Ranma opened his mouth to speak but found himself hesitating quite a lot. Though he couldn't bring himself to say it just yet, he was glad that Sakura was patiently waiting for him to speak. "It's… It's about earlier," he paused. "Do you think I went too far? With what I said to Naruto-san I mean."

"Oh, that," she said out loud, somewhat surprised that he was worried over the same event she was reliving inside her head. "Actually I was just thinking it over just before you mentioned it. If you ask me, I think that what Naruto was asking you to do was wrong. Don't misunderstand, he isn't usually like that, forcing or demanding people to kill I mean. But it's almost as if he suddenly changed one day during the war against Oto. It wasn't a big deal at first but when we saw that he no longer spared anyone we all began to worry. Strangely enough Hinata wasn't worried at all even though she said that the Kyuubi's bloodlust was affecting Naruto so he killed just to get the Kyuubi to stop whatever he was doing."

"Maybe he's getting that same feeling again."

"Who knows," she replied, shrugging her shoulders and shaking her head. "It's strange though now that I think about it. You've met Gaara, right?" Upon seeing Ranma's nod, she continued. "He used to have a demon sealed inside him too. I won't go into detail but Gaara was easily affected by Shukaku's bloodlust. Gaara would kill anyone who got in his way. I don't doubt that he would kill even his own siblings, who were his teammates at the time we met him. The Naruto we saw was almost like that so it had us all worried until Hinata explained it to us."

"Oh."

The pair sat in a comfortable silence for what seemed like hours. Both of them seemed content with just sitting there, or in Ranma's case lying on the ground and staring at the stars. It was when Ranma let out a heavy yawn that he pushed himself up into a sitting position and then standing up, followed by Sakura. "Well, I'm heading on home" He informed the pink-haired medic. "Will you be alright or should I walk you back?"

Sakura raised an eyebrow and placed a hand on her hip as though asking him, 'What do you think?' before smiling slightly and moving to walk alongside him. "Better than Naruto at his age at least," he heard her mutter something but didn't ask her what she said. It was known to Ranma, through experience, that if someone simply muttered something while in the company of someone then their companion wasn't meant to know what was being said. Of course, sometimes Ranma couldn't keep his curiosity in check and usually asked anyway and that led to a pissed off Akane or a beating from said person.

It took them a good thirty minutes to get to Sakura's home where she promptly thanked Ranma for the escort. Before he left, she told him one last thing. "Ranma, I've decided on something. Starting this Saturday I'll be training you during the night."

Ranma immediately perked up at the sound of extra training and was quick to reply. "Really? What kind of training?"

"I won't tell you just yet. However, what I will tell you now is that the training you'll be receiving will be unlike any you've ever experienced before. The training will be very deadly and you could lose your life at any time. Nevertheless, you will come out significantly stronger than you are now. Be here by seven every night and just so you know, if you do decide to come then I won't allow you to quit. I'll even drag you back if I have to." Before Ranma could go on about how he would never give up, Sakura walked through the door to her home and closed it shut. The clicking sound of a lock was heard, signifying that she had locked the door before the lights went on.

Ranma left the vicinity and arrived at his apartment within ten minutes of leaving Sakura's place of residence. He quickly pulled off his clothes, which were completely drenched in sweat, and entered the bathroom to take a quick bath. Exiting the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist, Ranma proceeded to put on a set of clean clothes before lying on his bed and falling asleep almost as soon as he did.

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Looking around his surroundings, Ranma sighed heavily upon seeing that it was completely blurry. He sighed again, or at least tried to, when he realized that he couldn't do anything once again. 'I wonder what's happening now? Is the war still going strong or are they close to traveling back in time already?'

"There you are Kyuubi. Now that you're back we can begin making a plan."

'K-Kyuubi?' That word immediately made Ranma more alert of the conversation as memory of what Naruto had told him about the Kyuubi and the seal on his body and what the seal does resurfaced. If the Kyuubi was there then that meant that it somehow escaped from Naruto's body since killing Naruto killed the Kyuubi as well. His vision finally cleared up a few seconds later and he saw an interesting and curious sight. In front of him, facing away from Ranma's position, was Ballog and around him were possibly the same group of demons that he saw inside the tent in his last dream.

It was nighttime and the group was currently hiding in the forest and in the field up ahead was what appeared to be walls to a campsite. "What now Ballog?" Asked one of the demons. The demon spoke in a beast-like voice that hinted that the speaker could be the Kyuubi. "We are all that's left of the pursuing force that was sent out and the humans seem to have found a way to suppress our youki. We can't open portals, we can't send out a message and worst of all, we can't escape."

"Why's that Kyuubi?" Inquired Ballog, the question proving Ranma's assumption that the speaker was indeed the Kyuubi no Kitsune and judging by the size of his silhouette then Ranma could assume that the Kyuubi could assume a smaller form. "If they simply put up patrols or guard posts then there wouldn't be any problem so I take it there's something else then."

The shadowed form of the demon now acknowledged as the Kyuubi nodded and said, "They've placed a powerful shielding spell around the area that prevents anything from passing through. And since we are unable to use our youki we don't have enough power to break it down like we normally would. As for the focus of the barrier it seems to be somewhere in their camp. Since it's constantly moving I would have to guess that someone is maintaining the barrier or is carrying the object that keeps it active."

"I see. Well, you're the strategist so what do you think about this situation?"

"I'd say that it was an object," replied the Kyuubi, crouching to the ground then moving to a sitting position with his legs crossed. "It would be easier to protect it than a human body. The walls around the camp are reinforced by Chakra, Chi and Magic so don't let their appearance fool you." There were small mutters of 'noted' around him. "And lastly, at least three of the five Vanguards are here. And since three of us are severely handicapped then the three of you will have to do most of the work."

'So there are six of them,' thought Ranma.

"I see," replied Ballog. "If that's the case then you, Seera and Ashura will have to be very careful."

The Kyuubi nodded before resuming what he was doing. "The camp holds well over two hundred soldiers of at least B rank. They have a multitude of skills that could take us down if we're careless. The best chance for us to remove this shield would be to find the one who holds control over it and eliminate him. Since the three of you aren't completely helpless or even mostly helpless then you'll have the best chance. We'll stay behind and get ready to open a portal as soon as you three get back."

"Or better yet, why not just have them deliver the key to us." Everyone turned to Seera with a questioning look, prompting her to continue her statement. "I can sense it. _She_ is inside that camp. Since she is still yours to command then all we have to do is get her attention and ask her to retrieve who or whatever is keeping this barrier active."

"Well?" Asked one of the still unnamed members of the group. The voice sounded human in Ranma's opinion but couldn't be sure when it came to dealing with demons. "It's your choice old man but personally I'd rather stay out of a fight since I can't use all of my powers."

"And you're supposed to be my descendant?" Scoffed Ballog, turning to face the campsite. "No, we'll go with the first plan. I can't risk her getting blamed for letting this shield drop. I still need her for something very important in the future, something that needs all of them to trust her with."

"You plan on disrupting their final plan?"

"No, something better. I'll tell you all later but for now the three of us have a camp to attack."

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Early the next morning, many of the Konoha shinobi were just waking up from a goodnight's rest. The same was happening all over Fire Country where numerous Konoha shinobi were waking from their sleep while some were retiring from having to guard both the country and the village from intruders. In one particular border camp the ninjas on duty were just about to be relieved from their duty by those just waking up. However, it would seem that luck was not on their side as a powerful tremor was felt all throughout the campsite. "What was that?" Asked almost all of the people residing in the camp.

Their answer came in the form of a large fissure that opened up in the middle of the campsite. Many of them managed to get out of the way but several were either half-asleep or falling asleep and were swallowed up by the still growing fissure in the ground. The fissure grew to be as long as the camp was wide and at least five meters wide before the tremors stopped and the fissure stopped growing. Before any of them could react to the sudden appearance of a fissure, chaos was delivered in the form of countless spikes made of earth rising from beneath them. Only a few managed to get out of the way but the others were impaled by the earth spikes, causing great injury if not immediate death.

"What's going on?" Demanded a loud voice from behind the surviving Konoha nins. Stepping out from the command tent was another Konoha ninja and just by the way the others reacted to his presence it could be assumed that he was their leader. "What happened out here?"

"Sir, it seems that the Iwa nins have begun their attack," replied the shinobi closest to the man. "What are your orders, sir?"

"Send the messenger squad to report this to the Hokage immediately," he barked out, having prepared a plan in case Iwa decided to pass through the camp he was currently in. "The rest of us will have to scout out the enemy and send another to report to the Hokage. After that we will hold them back for as long as possible. Now go!"

The Konoha nins quickly mobilized, four of them leaving the camp and running towards Konoha while the others prepared to scout out the enemy before engaging them. As soon as the messengers disappeared from their sight, however, the Iwa nins launched another attack in the form of a direct attack. From all around the campsite, hundreds of ninjas with the mark of Iwa on their forehead protectors appeared from underneath the ground. Only a handful of Konoha nins managed to avoid getting killed by the surprised attack but they were then surrounded with their backs to the fissure in the ground.

They started making handseals to take out as many of the Iwa nins as they could but were suddenly struck from behind by a lone Iwa nin. The leader of the camp managed to turn as he fell to the ground gasping for breath. Standing on the opposite side of the fissure was a girl no older than ten, her arm still outstretched from throwing the kunai that pierced them through the lungs. That was the sight he saw before his vision faded to black and he breathed his last breath.

"Excellent work," said the girl to the other Iwa nins. "Now, continue with the plan before the forces of Konoha arrive." The Iwa nins nodded before they disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving the young girl alone in the camp. "Naruto Uzumaki, your head will be mine."

Several hours later and miles away from the border camp, Naruto had just called an assembly for all Konoha shinobi Chuunin rank and up. The messengers had arrived unharmed but completely exhausted and drained of Chakra from having to run so fast. He had sent word to meet him at the assembly area that had been built near the center of the village. The assembly area was a large cylindrical building that was made up of three floors. Each floor had an open center surrounded by seats arranged in a circular formation facing the center. The seats were arranged like the arena allowing them all a clear view of the circular stage at the center of the bottom floor.

At the center of a stage was a large table with a map of Fire Country on it. There were several models of campsites and several tiles normally used when planning an attack or defense. Within ten minutes, every ninja Chuunin rank and above was seated and in front of them all were three people. One was the Hokage, the other was the ANBU Commander, who still wore the fox mask, and the third was Konoha's strategist, Shikamaru Nara. The first two were standing while the third was sitting, rather slumped, in his seat. "Everybody is here Hokage-sama," said the ANBU commander from behind Naruto. "Shall we begin?"

"Not just yet. I'm still waiting for someone."

And as though that was the signal the door to the room opened and a head peeked into the room. He looked around the room before turning to the man seated close to the door, who just happened to be Kakashi. "Uh… is this the right place?" Asked Ranma, unsure of whether he was in the correct building or not.

"Depends. Did Naruto call for you?" He nodded. "Then you're in the right place. Come on in and take a seat."

Naruto spotted Ranma's red clothing through the crowd and cleared his throat before calling for silence in the building. The sounds of people speaking to each other died down and their focus went from the person close to them to the man standing in front of them all. "I'm sure you all know why you've been called here. That's right, the war has begun. The forces of Iwa recently attacked the border camp to the north. Furthermore, I received word that Iwa and Kumo are waiting for us at the border camp they took over with their army split into three to attack us from three sides."

"What do we do Hokage-sama?" One of the Jounins on the second level asked. "Do we circle around them and attack from behind?"

Naruto shook his head in reply and just stepped aside. Lazily walking to where Naruto previously stood was a lazy looking Jounin who had his short black hair pulled into a short ponytail to the back of the top of his head. "No we won't," said the man lazily, a yawn escaping his mouth before he addressed the ninjas. "When we got word that Iwa was planning to start a war we had built a series of underground tunnels that led to and from each border camp including six camps around Konoha that were built between here and the border camps."

"What we will do is split our own army in two," explained the Jounin. "One will meet the Iwa and Kumo army head on and purposely enter the trap. The other will enter the tunnels located in the nearby camp and exit at the border camp to the east. When they see the signal they will attack the Iwa-Kumo army from the east while our allies from Suna will travel to the border camp to the west and attack from that direction."

"How will Suna help us now? It would take at least a day for them to get to the northern border. Even if they did make it in a day they would undoubtedly by exhausted from running the entire way."

The Jounin sighed and turned around, returning to his seat. Along the way he said to Naruto, "That part's too troublesome to explain."

Naruto just nodded before stepping forward once more, addressing the current matter at hand. "Both our seal masters and Suna's have been working together on a project that was completed two months ago. By placing these seals on the floor, walls and ceiling of any room, those inside that room can travel to any location with a matching seal instantaneously." Murmurs began to spread throughout the room upon hearing what the seal was capable of.

"The idea was born from the Yondaime's Flying Thunder God Technique. Each of the six camps around Konoha has one room with this seal including two places within Konoha that will be used for evacuation." This statement caused many of the ninjas to worry but their worries were alleviated when Naruto say the looks on their faces and understood why they were worried. "I won't bore you with the details but just so you all know, only people who are keyed into the seals can activate the transportation seal. Thus even if the enemy manages to capture one of those bases they couldn't travel directly to Konoha."

"Now as to your question as to how they can help us, there are two similar rooms in Suna as well as three hidden bases within Wind Country and at least one in every other country in case of an emergency. As I said, only people who are keyed into the seals can activate it and you can be certain that those people are those you can trust with your very lives. I've already requested help from the Kazekage so all we need to do is to get into position."

"Now then, four ANBU squads along with the third, fourth and fifth division of the Chuunins as well as the third and fourth Jounin division will make up the larger half of our forces. They will be traveling with the rest of us but will stop at the northern camp. From there one of the shinobi in the camp will guide your group to the border camp through the underground tunnels. Note that the tunnels are made so that only those who have memorized every detail can safely pass through without worry. There are many different pathways, many of which lead to traps and almost certain death so be careful not to be left behind." This caused another bout of worry throughout the ranks but the quickly steeled themselves and continued to listen to Naruto's speech. "The rest will remain in the northern camp and will continue to proceed north once we receive word that you've arrived at the border camp."

Another Jounin then asked a question. "What was the signal that Nara-san spoke of earlier?"

"Wait for a large explosion. Iwa and Kumo will no doubt think that we will attack immediately but that's where they are wrong," explained Naruto, pacing around the circular stage as he looked around towards everyone in the room. "We will remain in our respective camps and prepare ourselves for the upcoming battle. The main force will strike as the sun begins to set. This serves three purposes. One is that since they expect us to strike back immediately they will undoubtedly be waiting for us. The long wait will tire them out and try their patience. The second is to give Suna a chance to prepare themselves for the attack. And the third is to allow us all to rest and regain our energy after the journey."

"Hokage-sama, may I ask. Why is the larger half attacking from the side?" Asked someone from the second level of the building. "Shouldn't they be attacking from the front since that is where most of the fighting will be? The smaller force will be overwhelmed if they allow themselves to be ambushed."

"An ambush is only considered an ambush if the enemy doesn't know it's coming" Stated the ANBU Commander. "We already know the ambush is there so why should we allow ourselves to be caught by surprise? All we are doing is making it look as if we were caught in the ambush so that the enemy would lower their guard when the others attack them from behind. And the smaller force will attack from the front because several of our more powerful shinobi will be there and because it will lessen the number of casualties given that they expect us there, ambush or not."

Gesturing to the map of the entire country on the table Naruto continued the explanation by placing a red tile within one of the border camps, marking it as the enemy's camp. South of the camp were three more tiles, one facing south and the other two facing each other. In between all three tiles was a blue tile. "Had we rushed in then this would be the end result, our forces surrounded from three sides. But now-" He broke off and pulled out another blue tile and a yellow tile. He placed the blue tile in the border camp to the east of the battle field and the yellow tile to the western border camp while pulling back the surrounded blue tile and placing it in the northern staging camp. "-This will be our positions."

He then moved the original blue tile forward, placing it close to the trio of red tiles but not in between like before. He took the other blue tile and the yellow tile and put it on either side of the trio. "Once we all begin our attack, this will be the end result. If they begin to retreat, you are to pursue them as far as the border camp. Do not, I repeat, do not follow them beyond the camp. Is that understood?"

There was a loud chorus of 'Yes, Hokage-sama' Before Naruto gave a satisfied nod. "Good. You are all dismissed. We leave in an hour. Be at the north gate by then. Ranma, stay here."

Everyone left quickly either using the Body Flicker Technique or by foot. Within half a minute only Naruto and Ranma were left in the building. Ranma walked down the steps towards the circular stage and stood in front of Naruto. "What's up?"

"Are you coming?" Naruto asked Ranma. "To the battle I mean. I know how you feel about killing so I'm warning you now. You'll probably be the only one out there who won't be killing other shinobi on sight. Everyone else will aim to kill. Are you ready to see that?"

"I'm ready," he replied without hesitation. "I don't like it but that doesn't mean I can't deal with it. Besides, this is your war to fight. I'm just here to help speed things up. If it was my war then I definitely would be asking them not to kill. But it's not. I'll just have to deal with it."

Naruto sighed heavily but knew that he couldn't get anything else out of Ranma. At least for now. "Alright. I just wanted to make sure. Since the main force will be smaller, the two of us will be in that group. Before you leave I want you to come with me."

The duo left the building on foot and walked through the village for a few minutes. They entered a weapons shop and was promptly greeted by a woman with brown hair put into two buns. She was wearing this world's equivalent to Chinese clothes that were obviously made for combat. There were numerous scrolls hanging on the sash around her waist and strapped to her back was a sword. "Naruto, what brings you here?" Asked the woman.

"I came to pick up the stuff I asked you to make," he replied to which the woman nodded and went to the back of the shop. Turning to Ranma, he said, "That was Tenten, Konoha's weapon specialist. She and her younger brother run the shop. If you have any problems regarding weapons and armor like buying one, having one made or repaired or ordering custom made weapons or armor then this is the place to look."

"Okay, but why'd you bring me here? I don't really use weapons even though I know how to use them."

"I noticed that you use steel bracers." Ranma gave him a look that said, 'so?' but the look was ignored as Naruto continued. "Those may be good for blocking weapons strikes but against Chakra enhanced weapons you don't stand a chance and you're not quite at the level where you can enhance your bracers with Chakra to keep it protected against Chakra enhanced weapons."

Walking around the shop for a quick look around, he continued to explain to the red clad teenager why they were there. "I asked Tenten to make arm guards and shin guards for you. Since you also use weights to train I asked Tenten to put weight seals into your arm guards and shin guards. To activate them you just pour in Chakra into the seals. The more Chakra you pour into the seals the heavier they become."

"Cool. I'm getting pretty close to the limit of my vest so I was wondering how I was going to continue my training."

"Out of curiosity, just how heavy _is_ your vest? It can't weigh too much since the vest would have ripped apart if there was too much weight."

Ranma thought for a moment before replying calmly. "I can't really say anymore. All I know it that it weighs more than a thousand pounds."

"At least a thousand?" Came the shocked voices of both Naruto and Tenten, the latter having come out of the backroom. "I never thought I'd see anyone who would train with as much weights as Lee at his age. Anyway, here's your order Naruto" Tenten placed four items on the countertop and waited for Naruto and Ranma to get closer before she saying, "I admit, it took much longer than I thought but I managed to do it. Chakra forged arm guards and shin guards with weight seals."

"Chakra forged?"

Tenten nodded before beginning her explanation. "Normal weapons and armor are forged with regular fire but when forged while having Chakra pumped into them they become much harder than their normal counterparts; it's a method passed down my family that only we know how to do properly. Others have tried it and failed mainly because there is a certain amount of Chakra needed. Too much or too little, even by just a small amount, and the weapon becomes very brittle. It would take years of experimentation to get the right amount. But even then the same amount can't be used for larger or smaller weapons."

"Forging it this way is the same as pumping Chakra into an already made weapon or armor to make it stronger. This method simply makes it so that you don't have to waste Chakra in the middle of the battle to make a weapon or armor stronger than normal."

"Wow, that's pretty damn useful," commented Ranma, picking up one of the arm guards and examining it. The arm guard wasn't all that extravagantly made. It was just a regular arm guard colored red like his shirt that extended a bit to cover the back of his hand. Flipping it over Ranma saw a seal on the inside of the arm guard that he assumed was the weight seal Naruto was talking about. "So I just put Chakra into the seal huh?" He mused out loud before trying it out. He took off both bracers then put on both arm guards and formed a seal while concentrating Chakra into the seal on the inside of the arm guards.

Once he was satisfied with the weight of each arm guard, he tested it out by punching the air in front of him. "This is great," he said, turning to Tenten with a smile on his face. "Thanks Tenten-san. This should really help with my training."

"You're welcome," she replied with a smile of her own. She always liked it when people told her how much they liked her equipment, especially those she made with her own hands. "If it somehow gets damaged or possibly even broken just come by the shop and I'll fix it for you. And don't worry about the cost. I'll just charge it to Naruto."

Naruto was grumbling at that, saying something alone the lines of how expensive repairing Chakra forged equipment was. "Oh quiet you. You're the Hokage after all. You the richest guy in the entire village." This just caused him to mutter darkly under his breath while Tenten giggled at his expense. "Anyway." She turned back to Ranma who was in the process of putting on his shin guards. "If you ever need any weapons or armor just come on by and I'll see what I can do."

"Thanks Tenten-san, I'll keep that in mind. Anyway, I better get going. I still have to get ready."

"I'll be seeing you on the battlefield then."

"Right."

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Exactly an hour after the meeting, the attack force of Konoha was assembled outside their gates and began to travel north towards the northern camp where they would be staging their attack from. Among their ranks was their very own Hokage, Naruto Uzumaki, who was running alongside his wife, Hinata Uzumaki, and to his left was the ANBU Commander. Right behind the three of them was Ranma, Keiji and Kotoko.

Nothing was said as the attack force traveled through the treetops, jumping from branch to branch while others ran along the ground at full speed. Among their ranks were Naruto's close friends and members of the Konoha 11, a title they received when they were younger and one still used. They traveled together but were silent in case there were any spies in the area but simple and barely noticeable body movements were all they needed to speak their mind.

It would be nearly two hours later when they finally arrived at their destination and another hour and a half before Naruto received word that the second half of their attack force had reached the border camp via underground tunnels. 'Now all we have to do,' Naruto mused as he and the others made themselves comfortable while waiting for the right time to attack. 'Is wait.'

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'Where the fuck are they?'

Sanjurou Maki was furious. No, furious would be an understatement. He was letting out large waves of killing intent that scared just about all of the troops placed under his command for the operation. He and his division had been sitting amongst the trees for hours waiting for Konoha to retaliate. Just as Naruto had predicted they had been sitting in wait starting from ten in the morning. They had expected Konoha to approach within six hours of their attack as they estimated at most three hours for the messengers to reach Konoha and the same amount for them to attack the camp. They had attacked at dawn and had been sitting in wait for the attack to come.

They were sorely disappointed when noon rolled on by and no attack came. They ate their rations warily, expecting Konoha to attack while they were eating but still no attack came. The sun was now beginning to set and many of them were beginning to get hungry as their rations weren't filling enough to last them long. 'Well,' he thought. 'At least we can get back to the camp once the sun sets.'

The Tsuchikage and the Raikage had given orders that they were to pull back to the camp once the sun was no longer visible as fighting Konoha nins in the forest at night was a heavy disadvantage for them even if they surrounded the Konoha forces.

'I wonder how the others are holding up,' he asked himself, thinking about his two former teammates who were currently in charge of the other two divisions that would attack the forces of Konoha from the sides while his division attacked them head-on. 'They're probably cursing up a storm at the long wait. I wonder what happened though. I doubt Konoha would just ignore a threat like this so that's out of the question. Could the messengers have been killed along the way? It's the only logical explanation I can think of right now.'

His theory was shot right out the window as he sensed a large amount of Chakra heading their way. 'They're here,' he thought, silently signaling those around him to get ready. 'They'll be here any second now. And once they get here then we'll spring the trap. Konoha is as good as gone.'

About a hundred meters from their position was an intricate array of underground traps made up mostly of explosive tags. The traps went around in a large circle with the trigger to the trap being the edge of the circle closest to his position. Once the front of the Konoha army reached that point, a ring of explosions would go off, killing those above the traps and forcing them towards the center of the circle where they would be surrounded. The resulting explosion would then signal all three divisions to attack. Two minutes later a loud explosion was heard throughout the forest that alerted everyone to the presence of the forces of Konoha. "Let's go!" yelled Sanjurou, leaping from the branch he was on towards the source of the explosion. Following behind him were the Iwa and Kumo nins under his command.

Soon they reached the area of the forest where the explosion originated. There were numerous, large craters in the ground and many of the trees had been destroyed in the resulting explosion. Countless bodies and body parts lay strewn around the area, obviously dead from the lack of movement from the intact bodies. There were still many who were alive but only a few were uninjured. Those had been the ones that were far enough from the ring of explosive tags in the area.

"Nice of you to join us," said Satsuki, appearing from out of nowhere. The surviving Konoha nins looked towards the treetops and saw a young girl with a cold look on her face looking around the area. "Where is Uzumaki?"

"I'm right here."

Looking to where the voice came from, Satsuki appraised Naruto and noticed that he was completely unharmed, his battle uniform only covered with dirt. "This will be your grave," she spoke in a cold, emotionless tone. "You and all who survived shall die right here."

"Well too bad for you then," said Naruto, looking up to Satsuki with a foxy grin. "Not only did you fall into your own trap but none of us here are even real."

With that said all the Konoha nins, dead or alive, suddenly disappeared; either turning into smoke or simply disappearing. None of them had any time to ponder over the situation when two ninjas ran up to Satsuki panting for breath. "Satsuki-sama," they both called out at the same time.

"Konoha is attacking us from the east," said one ninja.

"Suna is attacking our forces from the west," said the other.

Before another word could be said a barrage of shuriken and kunai was cutting through their forces from the south. Amidst the barrage of weapons, several voices could be heard in the distance. "Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique." As soon as the techniques were called out, the hundreds of projectiles multiplied into thousands, killing and injuring many of the ninjas in the area.

While the front lines were busy dealing with Konoha's main force, the rear guard of the western division were trying to hold back the forces of Suna that had caught them by surprise. Their efforts proved futile when Gaara decided to get serious, burying them in a tidal wave made of sand. The eastern force was more fortunate but was still being pushed closer to the front lines when the Konoha nins attacked them with a barrage of projectiles that were multiplied with the same technique that was used in the front lines.

Back to the main battle, Naruto immediately jumped towards Satsuki, knowing that anyone else would be dead in minutes against her, if not seconds. "So you're Iwa and Kumo's secret weapon," he said, speaking the sentence as more of a statement than a question. "The only person alive who has the Bloodline Limit of the Mutsumi clan."

Satsuki remained silent and unmoving, staring directly at Naruto without any emotion or reaction to his words. "Naruto Uzumaki. You shall suffer the same fate as my father. I will kill you in the same manner that you killed him."

'Now this is interesting,' thought Naruto. 'I certainly don't remember this from last time.' He filed away those thoughts for later and said, "I really don't know who you're talking about. But if you want to kill me you'll have to beat me first."

"My pleasure."

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In another part of the forest Ranma was currently fighting against several Chuunins from Iwa. He had chosen to engage his opponents with his martial arts instead of using the Chakra techniques he learned the past few weeks. Though he could perform several techniques properly he decided to keep it hidden and let them simply think that he knows none. After all, the more they underestimated him the better. Even with nearly four times as much weight as he usually carried, Ranma still managed to move faster than they could follow and knocked them all out with well placed punches and kicks that sent them flying into the trees.

Looking around him, Ranma saw several Konoha shinobi having trouble and ran over to help them. Just as Naruto had expected, Ranma didn't kill anyone and just knocked them out. The other ninjas killed their opponents once they were knocked out and then proceeded to attack the other Iwa and Kumo nins.

While he was fighting, he failed to notice a familiar child-like demon watching him from the treetops. "My, my, it looks like he has yet to learn how to kill," Seera said to herself, watching as Ranma incapacitated five more Chuunins before they could react to his attack. "Perhaps I should see how far he's progressed since we last met."

Waiting for Ranma to dispatch of his Jounin opponent, Seera jumped down to the ground, landing soundlessly behind Ranma. "It's been a while."

Ranma immediately spun around, hearing the voice of someone familiar. "Seera," he growled out, getting into a stance and preparing to fight the young demon if needed. "What do you want? You already know my answer. I'm not going back with you."

"That's not why I'm here this time," she replied curtly. "I'm here to see just how much you've progressed since the last time we met. Not to the death of course as your mother would kill me if I killed you."

Ranma just gave his trademark smirk and said, "Sure, why not. I'd like to see what I'm up against when you guys attack our world".

Without another word Ranma lunged forward at breakneck speeds and punched at Seera only to be sorely disappointed and disgruntled when Seera caught the attack with her small hands. "Is that all?" She asked mockingly. "For one with demon blood in his veins you certainly are weak."

"Heh, if that's the way you want it then fine." Ranma jumped back and focused his Chakra, pulling it out from the weight seals on his arm and shin guards before lunging towards Seera once more, moving at almost twice the speed compared to before. He punched at her again only to meet an invisible barrier that stopped his fist. "What?" He scoffed. "Can't stop it by yourself this time?"

"I'm not foolish enough to even try. I know my limits. Although I can't say the same for you." With a flick of her wrist Ranma was sent flying back by an invisible force. Ranma flipped through the air and landed on his feet before disappearing from Seera's line of sight. "That won't work." She quickly tilted herself to the left just before Ranma's leg came crashing down to the ground from an axe kick. Seera jumped away just before Ranma's foot hit the ground, creating a crater twice his height and as deep as half his height. "Increasing the weight of your shin guard just as you bring down your leg. That's quite a unique way of increasing your attack power especially when moving towards the ground. I'm impressed."

Ranma paid no attention to what she was saying and focused solely on finding a way to hit her. He tried every trick he could think of, tried every tactic he learned over the years, he began using the Chakra techniques he learned in Konoha and Suna and still he could not land a single hit on the silver haired demon. "What's wrong?" She asked with a grin. "Still don't want to take the fight seriously?"

The look on Ranma's face gave her the answer she wanted before she landed deftly on a tree branch high above Ranma. "I will tell you this now. If you cannot let go of your unwillingness to kill simply because of appearances then you cannot win the war. Simply because I look the way I am doesn't mean that I can be innocent. Just don't forget that just as the most gruesome demon can be the kindest of all, the most docile ones can be the most dangerous."

She stepped off the branch, falling through a black portal that appeared parallel to the ground a few feet below the branch. That left Ranma alone for the moment, everyone else having gone on ahead to attack the rest of the Iwa and Kumo forces. 'What was she trying to do by telling me that?' He asked himself, repeating her last statements to him inside his head. 'I don't understand this at all.'

Ranma's thoughts on the matter were cut short when he felt a powerful _and_ demonic aura coming from somewhere in front of him. Without a second thought he ran towards the demonic aura, taking out as many Iwa and Kumo nins as he could along the way with well placed punches. His speed wasn't that much faster than before given that he had only gotten the new weights earlier that day but it was still enough to make a difference in Ranma's eyes.

Along the way Ranma was able to witness a few strange techniques. He paused in one place just to see a handful of enemy ninjas standing still in front of Konoha's strategist. It was strange because when the strategist yawned and raised a hand to cover his mouth, the enemy did the same as well. Then from the side, he watched a large man, who he would later learn was Chouji Akimichi, suddenly inflate and tuck himself into a ball before literally rolling over the enemy ninjas that were standing still. A little later he saw a large group of enemy ninjas surrounding a man wearing a coat with a high collar and the hood covering the upper portion of his face. He was about to rush in to help when a swarm of bugs suddenly attacked the Iwa-nins and in seconds they all fell to the ground.

He continued to run towards the powerful aura after that. As he got closer he could feel the bloodlust that was in the air accompanied by many people backing away from the source of the bloodlust or, as he heard them call it, killing intent. He arrived at the edge of a large, scorched crater that was at least half a mile wide. He ran closer to the source of the power he felt until he could see them. In the center of the crater were two people. One he could recognize as the blonde Hokage while the other appeared to be a young girl.

He watched the battle from afar, knowing that he was out of his league upon realizing that Naruto was utilizing the power of the nine-tailed fox that was sealed inside him. A fight against a Naruto without the powers of the fox, Ranma could still win if even by a small margin. But against one with the powers of what could be one of the most powerful demons in existence, needless to say that Ranma would not last a minute against that kind of power.

It was easy to see that they were at a stalemate. Both were equally hurt and breathing hard. One had a look of pure determination while the other was just looking on coldly. Blood was sprinkled all over the battlefield, a combination of both Naruto's and the young girl that he was facing. That was what confused Ranma. How could a girl, who could not be older than ten, match up to Naruto, who was using a portion of the Kyuubi's power?

'Does she have a demon sealed inside her too?' He asked himself, knowing that only a few people could answer that question. 'Problem is, those people are on the other side of this war.' He instinctively crouched down when someone tried to stab him in the back of the head with a kunai. He shot back up to a standing position and knocked him out cold with a blow to the chin from his head. 'No, she doesn't have the demonic feel that Naruto-san does so that can't be it. Does she have one of those Bloodline Limits? Maybe. If she does have one I wonder what it is. It's gotta be something useful if she can fight Naruto-san and the Kyuubi's power.'

He continued to idly watch their fight, analyzing it carefully to find any logical reason as to why they seemed to be even in terms of fighting ability. Both of them were blindingly fast, moving faster than Ranma could follow but slow enough for Ranma to catch a glimpse of them here and there. What he found interesting was that every time Naruto punched or kicked the girl he seemed to wince in pain while she didn't react even one bit. The only times he noticed her face reflect the pain she felt was whenever Naruto struck her with a powerful technique. He also noted that Naruto never blocked any of her attacks.

"Goddammit," he heard Naruto curse out loud upon landing a solid kick that sent the girl flying straight to the ground, creating another shallow trench among the many that already existed. "I forgot how strong she is."

Ranma wasn't able to hear any more as the girl reappeared behind Naruto and delivered a spinning kick to his lower back. The two of them continued to trade blows, using Chakra techniques whenever they found the time to form handseals in the midst of their high-speed battle. "I will show you," he heard the girl begin to say as she formed a series of handseals while Naruto was pulling himself out of a human shaped crater. "I will show you the power my father gave me before you killed him." She finished the handseals just as Naruto got to his knees and looked up to her from the ground. "Secret Technique: Armor of Invulnerability."

There was a look of horror on Naruto's face when he heard the name of the technique. This served to fuel Ranma's curiosity as he focused on sensing the energies that ran through the girl's body. He closed his eyes and with a bit more concentration he could then see her energies as it circulated throughout her body. Like the Byakugan, he was able to see the energy in her body and how it moved; unlike the Byakugan he could not see all around him or across great distances.

It only took him seconds to realize what the girl had done to herself. 'It's like Ryoga's Iron Cloth Technique.' He opened his eyes and watched as she rushed towards Naruto once again, her foe evading her fist and delivering a vicious punch to her sternum. However, this time there was no reaction or movement from the girl while Naruto immediately pulled back his fist, cradling it in his other arm as he yelled out in pain. 'She hardened her skin to the point that Naruto-san feels pain while she doesn't. Could that be it?' realization dawned on him as he thought back to what he witnessed mere minutes earlier. 'Is that why he was avoiding her attacks? Because she hardened her body already?'

He continued to watch the fight and noticed that this time Naruto was completely on the defensive. Nothing he did could pierce the girl's hardened skin enough to actually hurt her. 'If that's the case, then he'll need to use something sharp. Not just that, but it has to be tougher than her hardened skin. That, or he waits for the technique to wear off.'

Naruto was thinking along the same lines as Ranma, having already experienced that technique in the past, his past. 'If I remember right then she can only hold the technique for fifteen minutes. That's ten more minutes than I have before my own Chakra reserves die out. If only I could shut down the bastard fox's healing then I'll have more Chakra to fight. Problem is the fox stopped caring about whether he dies with me or not to help me anymore.'

As his self-imposed ten-minute time limit began to tick away slowly, his mind went into overdrive to try and figure out a way out of his problem. 'Alright, think. What did I do last time to beat her? I waited for her to drop her technique but I don't have that option now. I don't have enough Chakra to create a Chakra Blade strong enough to pierce through her skin and neither Hinata nor Kotoko is here and they're the only ones who can hurt her while she's using this technique.'

Inside Naruto's head a deep rumbling laughter was heard by Naruto. **"Looks like you got careless brat," **came the deep, rumbling voice of his body's tenant. **"You have at least double the amount of Chakra compared to the first time around and what do you do? Waste it on useless techniques that didn't even affect her. You humans are so alike, always rushing into things without thinking through the situation."**

'If you've got time to point out our flaws then you've got time to help me out here,' Naruto thought back angrily to the Kyuubi. 'I thought you said you wanted the pleasure of killing me yourself?'

"**I do," **replied the Kyuubi. **"But I also said that I won't allow you to lose to weak humans. This girl is certainly not in that category if she can fight you evenly when you're using the Chakra you've obtained from me over the years. If she can kill you herself then it won't make much difference to me."**

'Bastard,' replied the demon container but received no reply asides from a growl. 'I hate to admit it but the fox is right this time,' he thought, barely avoiding another punch from his opponent and another kick that nearly took his head off. 'I really did get too cocky this time around. If I run she'll simply catch up to me. I don't have time to wait or look for a Hyuuga to hit her with the Gentle Fist and Ranma can't really help unless he knows the Gentle Fist or any technique that could pierce her armor.'

'…' If Naruto could find the time he would have smacked himself already. 'Of course, why didn't I think of that before. I'm so stupid. I've got to tell him what to do without Satsuki hearing. I hope this works.' He formed a familiar handseal and created one lone Shadow Clone, creating it far enough with hopes that she wouldn't see.

Ranma saw this and became curious when the Shadow Clone ran up to him and explained Naruto's idea to him. "So, can you do it?"

Ranma thought about it for a moment, pondering over the feasibility of the idea considering his Chi was still inaccessible. "Alright," he nodded. "I'll need you to hold her off for about half a minute. That'll give me enough time to see if I can do it."

"Okay," replied the Shadow Clone. "Try to make it quick. I won't last much longer." And with that the Shadow Clone was dispelled.

Once the clone was dispelled, Naruto received the information about the conversation from the clone and did as he was asked. About thirty seconds later he heard Ranma's voice. "Earth Release: Inner Decapitation Technique."

Both Naruto and the girl were caught off guard when a pair of hands shot out from underground and latched onto her ankles. She was too shock to react in time and was immediately pulled underground, leaving her head the only part of her body not underground. Looking to the side as much as she could, she came face to face with Ranma's grinning… face as he said, "No hard feelings, alright?" He moved his hand to her neck and pressed the pressure point that he knew would paralyze her for several hours or until he reversed the effect. Unfortunately for him, her skin was still harder than normal and he was unable to press it.

Persisting in his attempt, Ranma applied more pressure until his finger was actually pressing her skin hard enough for her to feel it being pushed inwards, even if by just a little bit. Her eyes widened in shock as she realized that someone as strong as him could possibly hurt her even with her technique active. It took a while but Ranma managed to gather his strength to push the pressure point with just the right amount of strength, effectively paralyzing the girl in place. "Sorry Naruto-san," he said, looking up to the spiky haired blonde who was supporting himself on his knees. "I couldn't do what you wanted me to do since I couldn't use my Chi the way you wanted me to. I tried it with Chakra but I failed."

"So…" He panted out, exhausted from wasting so much Chakra and fighting against a near invulnerable opponent. "What did… you do to her?"

"She's paralyzed right now and will be for the next few hours."

"Good," he replied, pulling out a scroll and summoning a katana that was sealed within. "Now I can… kill her before… anything else… happens."

The auburn haired girl had only felt fear once before, that was when Shiori Koji, the Tsuchikage, threatened to activate the seal that was placed on her. The first time it was activated was when she refused to have anything to do with her and her plans against Konoha. That had been a year into her training. The pain she felt was more than she would feel during her three years of training and from then on she never refused the Tsuchikage and the Raikage anything.

And now, she felt fear once more. It wasn't her first mission or the first time she was confronted with possible death. Even the Tsuchikage and Raikage have threatened her with death on countless occasions. But this time was different. Compared to Shiori and Minoru, she was still useful to them as she was supposedly the only one who could fight the Hokage and achieve victory. But to the Hokage she was useless and she knew that. She could no longer fight, the last of her Chakra having been used for her final technique.

Contrary to what Naruto thought, the technique wore off a few seconds after Ranma had paralyzed her. He had forgotten to take into account that she had not traveled back and he was fighting a weaker version of her, one who could only maintain the Armor of Invulnerability for roughly eight minutes.

The moment their fight began, she knew that their assumption that the Hokage would try to lure her away from fighting for his enemies was wrong. He fought viciously and attacked mercilessly. His eyes were that of a merciless killer, relaying a message to her that she would not walk away unharmed. 'So,' she thought to herself, shutting her eyes in preparation for what was to come. 'It would seem that I've lost. To think that I lost, simply because I allowed someone to interfere.'

She awaited the feel of cold steel cutting through her neck, 'Or will it be a quick death?' She waited for what seemed like eternity. She waited, and waited, and waited but still, death did not come to claim her life. 'Does he want me to watch and see the face of my killer? I won't give him that satisfaction.'

She continued to wait, knowing that he would eventually become impatient and would kill her just the same and without her armor to protect her, she was completely at his mercy. She expected him to kill her right then and there. She didn't expect him to speak, even if it wasn't directed at her. "Move," came his voice in a cold tone. She opened her eyes, curious as to who he was speaking to. Looking up from the ground, she saw the red clad form of the one who had paralyzed her.

Her savior, the very man who had aided in her defeat, said only one word. "No."

_END CHAPTER_

**Anyway, this is the end for this chapter. So how was it? Please click on the 'GO' button at the bottom of the page and tell us what you think of this chapter. Like it? Hate it? Love it? Despise it? Comment? Suggestion? Flames? Criticisms? Any and all is welcome as nothing you say can discourage us, only motivate us to write better, if we can.**

**Until next time then.**


	17. Arc 2 Chapter 7

Terms of Engagement

Terms of Engagement

By Overlord of Order and Overlord of Chaos

**SUMMARY: What if many of the on-goings involving Genma and Nodoka was all a hoax? What if most of what they've said was a lie? What reason could they have to lie to so many people? What does it have to do with Ranma's future?**

_Arc 2: Ninja Training_

_Chapter 7: Satsuki_

Deep within Konoha, located underneath the village, was a prison. What was so special about the prison you ask? It was a prison created long ago by the Shodaime Hokage. The prison was unlike any other prison in existence. It wasn't only because it was made purely of wood or because it only had two levels with six cells on each level or that it was deep underground or the fact that only ANBU members, the Hokage and those with the Hokage's permission were allowed down there. No, the reason why it is special was because the prison itself was supposedly alive.

Needless to say that the Shodaime Hokage had used his Wood Techniques to create the prison. At the second level of the prison was a room and inside that room was a seal. Nobody understood how the seal worked or even what it did, just that it was there with a warning from the Shodaime himself not to tamper with it. Nobody dared get close to it, whether to try examining it or to destroy it, because of one particular event.

There was one seal master who couldn't control his growing curiosity and snuck into the prison, wanting to examine the seal and claim the glory for understanding its workings. The moment he entered the room, he was attacked by the walls, the floor and the ceiling of the room itself, killing him instantly. The man's brother had attempted to destroy the seal for what it did and received the same fate. Strangely enough, those who entered the room to take away the bodies weren't killed.

The Sandaime once led a group of Hyuuga Clan members who were in ANBU to try and examine the entire prison. That led to the discovery of the wood's special properties. The wood acted as a natural suppressor, suppressing their Chakra once they got too close to it. The Hyuuga Clan members couldn't activate their Byakugan and no techniques could be used so long as they were within ten meters of the wood. They examined the prison from a distance with their Byakugan and came to the conclusion that the wood had literally taken root underground and was keeping itself alive like a regular tree would. One of the Hyuugas had even claimed that the roots traveled to a reservoir of water deep underground. They also discovered that the room where the seal was located was protected in some way that kept the Byakugan from seeing into the room. Because of that they couldn't examine the seal from afar.

Since that discovery, Konoha had kept their more dangerous prisoners inside that particular prison as it didn't allow for the use of Chakra and, as Ranma discovered soon after stepping into the prison, his Chi as well. He had managed to convince Naruto, although barely, that the girl, Satsuki, didn't need to be killed being that she was still young and deserved a second chance. He honestly didn't know why but Naruto gave in to his demands in the end. "But," he said to him. "If she becomes directly responsible for something then you will shoulder the blame. Do I make myself clear?"

Ranma accepted that responsibility, knowing what Naruto had meant by that statement. 'If she attacks Konoha then I'm to blame,' he thought to himself, understanding the situation and Naruto's worries. As she was now more or less his responsibility, he was the one who had to lead her into the prison. She was still paralyzed from head to toe and was being carried by Ranma on his shoulder as they proceeded into the wooden prison accompanied by a pair of ANBU members. Walking up to the first cell he found, he was wondering about how to get her inside when the wooden bars slid downwards as though absorbed by the floor. "Cool," he commented out loud with a smile on his face.

He gently laid her down on the wooden cot inside the cell and pressed the pressure points that undid the paralysis. As soon as he did, she attempted to attack him but her fist was easily caught in his own hand. "I don't think you'll want to fight me here Satsuki-chan," he said playfully, waving one finger in her face as though he were talking to a child. Technically he was but she still didn't like it. "If you haven't noticed it yet, neither one of us can use our Chakra in here. And frankly, I can easily beat you in terms of pure hand to hand combat."

Satsuki sneered but couldn't help but agree with Ranma. She had seen firsthand how skillful he was. He had held back several of Konoha's shinobi, Chuunin, Jounin and ANBU alike, when he carried her all the way back to Konoha. They saw her and attempted to kill her without waiting for an explanation as to why Ranma was carrying her in the first place. He avoided all their techniques and attacks using the smallest amount of movement possible while carrying her.

She sat back down on the cot while trying to glare a hole through Ranma's head. "Tell me something," she said, catching Ranma's attention as he began to walk out of the cell. "Why did you save me? Surely you understand that if I were to escape then I would pose a danger to Konoha. Uzumaki said so himself. If that were to happen then you would be held responsible. So why? Why do you take the risk and save me still?"

"I saved you," he began, turning around to face Satsuki with a small smile on his face. "Because you're still young. That's a promise I made to myself two years ago when I realized that I had basically lost my childhood, all because I was training to become the best martial artist in the world. I guess seeing you reminded me of myself; forced to grow up quickly because of the wants of others."

"And how do you know that I grew up quickly because of the wants of others and not because I wanted to?"

"I don't. Call it instinct. Don't believe me if you don't want to but I'm sticking with it. If you wanna grow up quickly that's fine with me. But you'll regret it in the end. They say that power comes at a price. For me, that price was my childhood and the lack of friends."

"Tch, who needs friends," she replied sourly. "I've gotten this far without them. I certainly don't need them anytime in the near future."

"That's where you're wrong," Ranma shot back almost instantly. "Strangely enough, my friends are also my rivals in the art. Although I think I'm the only one who thinks of them as my friends. They are trying to kill me after all."

The ANBU standing behind him sweatdropped at that statement. Even Satsuki couldn't resist the urge to sweatdrop at that statement as her face gained a strange expression at that last statement. 'If he considers people who try to kill him as his friends I wonder what he considers an enemy?'

Ranma shook himself out of his thoughts and said, "Anyway, they're always trying to surpass me whether through training or the use of a potion, poison or some kind of trick. Lots of times I lost to them but I always came back stronger and beat them even if they tried the same thing on me. It may be strange but they are my friends and rivals at the same time. We beat the crap out of each other but we also end up helping each other from time to time."

"That still doesn't explain why I'm wrong."

"We keep pushing each other to the limit, forcing us to surpass our limits and become stronger than we thought we could be. It's also when you fight for someone else that you can really discover your true potential."

"Elaborate."

Ranma just sighed at her stiff social skills but explained anyway. "What's the point in fighting just for the sake of fighting? When you fight for others you have a goal, a reason to succeed. Even if you're put up against impossible odds you'll continue to fight your hardest to achieve your goal. The stronger the reason you're fighting for the stronger your desire to win, the desire to succeed and ultimately surpass your own expectations of yourself." Seeing the blank look on her face, he just sighed once more. "I guess you really won't understand it just because I'm explaining it to you. The best way to understand something is usually through experience. So I suppose for you to understand this, you'll first have to find someone worth fighting for. Anyway, I gotta go. It's almost eight."

"How would you know what time it is?"

A loud rumbling sound was heard, a sound that was soon identified as Ranma's stomach as he sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "Eh, that's how. I haven't eaten for almost four hours now. Anyway, I'll see you around Satsuki-chan."

She sent him a cold glare and said, "Don't call me that."

"Sure, sure," he replied teasingly, walking out of the cell as the bars reappeared. "Whatever you say, Satsuki-chan."

A low growl was all he heard as he walked away from her cell, with a small smile. He walked out of the prison, past the ANBU guards and out into the open. He immediately pumped Chakra into his weight seals and felt all the weight bear down on him as soon as he did so. Satisfied that he would be using that weight setting for a few more days, he walked towards the Hokage Tower, knowing instinctively that Naruto would want to talk to him.

He didn't have to walk that far when he saw a familiar blonde entering a familiar restaurant. He followed the Rokudaime into the building and took a seat beside him at the bar area of the restaurant. "That was a very big gamble you took," was all Naruto said to him for the moment as he told Ayame his order followed shortly by Ranma. "Would you have been ready to take responsibility for her actions if she regained enough energy to attack us while we were inside Konoha?"

"I would have," Ranma replied without hesitation, not once glancing at the blonde sitting beside him. "I'd have fought her myself even if I didn't have a chance in hell of winning."

"Don't know whether you're brave or foolish. Probably both."

"Better a brave fool, than a child killer."

"You don't understand the situation do you? She could single-handedly kill every Konoha shinobi and still fight me evenly if I don't use the fox's Chakra. She slaughtered hundreds of Konoha and Suna ninjas the first time around and thousands of innocents were killed when she attacked nearby towns and village just to lure us out. What's to say she won't do the same thing this time around?"

"Maybe you should stop thinking about what was in the past or rather what hasn't happened yet," said Ranma, taking a sip from the glass of water he was given. Too bad for him that some drunk decided it was time to leave and got up from his seat. He wobbled on his legs for a bit and bumped into Ranma, causing the water in his, now her, glass to jump out and onto her. Ranma-chan muttered something dark before going back to the conversation. "You managed to avoid the ambush and managed to capture her this time around. What makes you so sure that the same things will happen now that you did something differently?"

Naruto just sighed, knowing that if he continued to argue then they would just keep arguing until they were satisfied. "By the way… I just received a report from my spy within Iwa. He managed to get a copy of Satsuki's files. Every single detail about her is inside the report he gave me. Come to my office tomorrow morning and I'll explain what was in the report that has me more worried about her now compared to earlier today."

Ranma-chan wordlessly nodded and the rest of the time they were together was spent in silence. They didn't say another word to each other until Hinata arrived. That was when they put up a façade of getting along. Hinata seemed to buy the act and the next hour was spent talking about pointless things.

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The next morning Ranma walked into the Hokage's office and saw Naruto sitting behind his desk, which was for once clear of paperwork save for one folder. "Good morning," he greeted.

Naruto just nodded his reply and motioned for Ranma to take a seat, knowing that it would take a while to explain everything that he had just learned the day before. "As you know, her name is Satsuki. She's eight years old and they've been training her for three years. The report stated that she started off with next to no skills in combat and now, three years later, she can fight me evenly. That alone should give you an idea of how quick she learns and how good her instructors must be. But in all honesty, that's not what I'm worried about most. I'm more worried about where she came from or rather, who her supposed father is."

"Her… father?" Then something clicked in Ranma's head from the fight the day before. "I remember her saying that she'd show you the power her father gave her just before she used that secret technique of hers. I also remember her yelling at you that she would kill you like you did her father while we were running back here."

"That's right, she did. I can't really say that he is the father but technically he is. The girl's father is none other than Orochimaru, former self-proclaimed Otokage, S-class missing-nin of Konoha and one of the Legendary Sannin." Ranma's eyes widened in surprise at that tidbit of information. They had told him all about Orochimaru and his part in the previous war. They had also explained his countless experiments on humans, including the cursed seals. "Just having his name in the same sentence as Satsuki's name is enough to get me worried. And trust me when I say that the rest of the report gets worse. Just so you know by the way, I never had this report the first time around so everything here is news to me to."

"You already know about Orochimaru and how he conducted experiments so I'll just get straight to the point. Satsuki is one of those experiments. Unlike the past experiments though, she is his own creation." Seeing the blank look on Ranma's face, she explained in greater detail in words that he knew, rather hoped, that Ranma would understand. "Apparently Orochimaru created a Forbidden Technique early on in the war. That technique allows him to _create_ humans."

"Create humans?" Mimicked Ranma, his eyes wide and unblinking. "So he can create an army of ninjas out of nothing?"

"Not out of nothing. He still needs body parts. Basically the cost for the technique is Chakra and body parts to create a body."

"I still don't get it."

Naruto sighed, knowing just how hard it would be to explain to someone like Ranma. "Call it an equal trade, much like any technique. For us to use a technique we need to give up some of our Chakra. For him to create a live human body he needs Chakra just like any other technique. But the key words are 'human' and 'body'."

"So, he sacrifices one person to make another? That doesn't make any sense at all."

"Not another person," Naruto half-yelled exasperatedly, getting annoyed as it only took him a few minutes to understand everything. "Body parts. It doesn't need to be a live human being. So long as there is a heart, a brain and everything else found in a human body then he can perform the technique. At first I was wondering why he attacked the villages around the Oto village but now I understand. He killed the people and used their bodies as components for making a body."

"From what my spy has told me Iwa discovered Satsuki's body a few days after Konoha and Suna attacked Oto and killed Orochimaru. They recovered not only her body but also Orochimaru's research journal. It explained how the technique worked as well as notes on every body he created. The notes directly related to Satsuki are incomplete but apparently he learned something that excited him with the previous body. He learned that he could use a body of a ninja with a Bloodline and the ability is passed onto the created body. That would explain how she has the Bloodline ability of the Mutsumi Clan, the ability to manipulate the hardness and flexibility of their cells."

"Like how she hardened herself yesterday?"

"That's right. They could also make their bodies incredibly flexible. Flexible like rubber and therefore making evading attacks so much easier."

"But won't hardening their body make it harder to move around?"

The Hokage shook his head in reply. "That's why their Bloodline is dangerous to fight against. No matter how hard their bodies become, they're still as flexible as they were before the hardening. And if they make their bodies more flexible, they can still take as much damage as they normally would. There was even one man who had trained his ability so far that he could create small spikes made of hardened skin protrude from his body. Imagine how painful it would be to get hit by a fist as hard as diamonds and with spikes coming out of it or even punching the guy and realizing that not only is he as hard as diamonds but his body was covered in spikes."

Ranma winced at the thought of that. Punching Ryoga was like punching a rock or even steel, but punching a diamond? "And Satsuki has that Bloodline?"

"Right. But that's not all. I'm guessing that she has more Bloodlines in her than even the Tsuchikage and Raikage know."

"What makes you say that?"

"Contrary to what they think, I know why Orochimaru wanted to create a body. It wasn't to bolster his army. No, it's because he wanted a powerful body. You already heard about that, right?" Ranma nodded in reply to the question which prompted Naruto to continue. "Originally he wanted to transfer to Sasuke's body. That was a long time ago, back when I was fifteen. We couldn't find Orochimaru's new lair and time was running out for us so we did the next best thing. If we couldn't find him, we get him to come out. We spread rumors all around that Itachi, Sasuke's brother, was spotted in Rain Country and was heavily injured after a confrontation with Jiraiya, one of the Sannin. It worked perfectly and Sasuke left Orochimaru's lair like we planned. It went even better considering that he left without telling Orochimaru."

There was an underlying tone to Naruto's voice that hinted that something had gone wrong. Ranma voiced this thought and received an answer. "You're right, something did go wrong. We were waiting for him in a town with one of my Shadow Clones dressed up and wearing a face mask that made it look like Itachi seeing as a simple Transformation Technique would be easy to detect. We don't know exactly what happened but we found Sasuke, lying in a pool of his own blood just outside the village. When we asked who had killed him they said that it was a group of four people wearing black cloaks with red clouds, the cloaks of Akatsuki, the same organization that Itachi belonged to. Before we could do anything Orochimaru appeared and took Sasuke's body away."

"With Sasuke's body beyond repair we were at least relieved that Orochimaru couldn't transfer to his body and gain the power he wanted. I'm guessing that he became desperate and thus created the technique to try to create a body instead. We haven't seen him since that day so we don't know whose bodies he transferred to for the next twenty years and some even assumed he was dead. That was proven false when we finally found his main base and attacked it three years ago. I found it strange that I had beaten him easily but now it all makes sense. He had probably created Satsuki on the day of the attack and the Chakra he used to create her body drained him enough that he couldn't put up much of a fight."

Ranma sat there in silence, taking it all in and processing it all in his head. "So let me get this straight," he sighed out. "Satsuki is basically one of Orochimaru's creations and he made her using the body parts of someone from the Mutsumi Clan. He wanted to create a powerful body, namely Satsuki, so that he could transfer into it and live for a long time. And she knows that you killed Orochimaru and is coming after you because of that."

"Don't forget that she's extremely powerful and skilled to be able to get as good as she is in only three years."

Ranma absently nodded as he thought about it more before a strange question popped into his head. "Hey, this Orochimaru's a guy, right?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow at the strange question but nodded nonetheless. "Yeah," he drawled out, wondering what prompted Ranma to ask such a question. "Why do you ask?"

"I've been wondering. If he's a guy, why'd he make a female body that looks like an eight year old?"

Naruto opened his mouth to answer but froze when he realized that he had no answer to the question. He blinked a few times before suddenly switched to a thinking position. Ranma waited for an answer, and waited, and waited, and waited. He got up from his seat and walked around the room, walking along the walls and ceiling before running around and jumping from wall to wall, wall to ceiling and ceiling to wall. He returned to his seat minutes later just as Naruto looked up from his musings. "I have no idea," he deadpanned.

Ranma nodded and asked his next question. "Is there any way you can contact Happosai? I need to ask him for something."

Naruto cocked his head sideways at the strange request but received no explanation from the raven-haired teen. "Sorry," he answered. "There's no way to communicate between two worlds so you'll have to wait for him to come to you to check on your progress. How come?"

Thinking that it wouldn't hurt to tell him what he wanted to talk to Happosai about, he shrugged and deadpanned, "I need some shampoo."

"…" Naruto just stared at him unblinkingly for the better part of a minute before he found his voice again. "Say what?"

"I need some shampoo," he repeated in the exact same manner. "But," he continued, keeping Naruto from saying whatever he was about to say. "Not just regular shampoo. There's this shampoo that the old ghoul has that can make someone forget about another person. One time I overheard her saying that there's a shampoo that completely erases someone's memory. If I can get her to send me some along with instructions then maybe I could use it on Satsuki. That way she won't be a threat to Konoha anymore."

Naruto's mind went into overdrive at that idea as he shut his eyes and placed his chin on his hand. 'With Satsuki on our side this time around we can definitely end the war much sooner and with fewer casualties. But why do I get the feeling that something bad's going to happen? Maybe I'm just too worried about the war right now. His idea seems sound and Cologne's potions have always been useful. So, why not.' He relaxed and opened his eyes then said, "Alright. I'll tell him that you wanted to see him if I see him first. Anyway, you better get going. You're late for your shift at the restaurant."

"Yeah, yeah," he threw back casually, getting up from the seat and walking towards the door. "I'll see ya later then."

"By the way," Naruto called out before Ranma left the room. "Your Chakra Control still needs work."

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"Your Chakra Control has gotten much better." Hinata leapt to the side as a barrage of fireballs flew towards her position. Almost as soon as she touched down the ground beneath her exploded upwards. She managed to avoid most of the damage but several rocks and clumps of dirt managed to hit her; they were more of an annoyance than anything else. "You're ninjutsu's more refined and you've managed to hide your presence from my Byakugan though I can still see faint traces of your energy. Heavenly Spin!"

The barrage of kunai and shuriken were easily deflected out of the way by the Hyuuga defense technique but as Ranma had noticed, they needed time to reorient themselves after spinning at a high speed. He took the chance to launch another handful of shuriken, preparing a handful of kunai in his other hand. He formed the handseals for the technique and called it out, "Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique!" The ten shurikens multiplied by three, a total of thirty shuriken flying towards the slightly disoriented Hinata. Seeing the incoming attack, she spun around once more and deflected the weapons with her spinning Chakra.

Watching the spinning Chakra carefully, Ranma's eyes caught it as it began to slow down. He immediately launched the kunai towards where he guessed Hinata's limbs would be just as the Chakra died down. His eyes widened when he saw that his opponent was no longer in front of him, the kunai harmlessly passing through the empty air and embedding themselves in the trees.

'Only one way out of there without being seen. And that's below.' He jumped to the side just as several spikes rose from the ground where he previously stood. His landing was predicted and a pair of hands shot out from the ground and wrapped around his ankles, dragging him underground as he let out a yelp in surprise.

Once he was buried up to his neck in soil, Hinata came out from underground, dusting off her clothes as she looked down at Ranma. "You're getting better at this Ranma. You'll probably be a match for Naruto in only a few years." This caused Ranma to smile widely as Hinata helped dig him out of the hole. Her next statement wiped that smile off his face. "That's given that he doesn't grow stronger as well, which is doubtful."

"Well there goes my good mood."

Hinata giggled at his antics as he put up a fake look of hurt. "Don't worry about it so much," she said, pulling him out of the hole she dragged him down into. "Naruto has decades of experience over you so it's understandable that you can't beat him just yet. You're strong in your own right and you'll be even stronger once you can use your Chi again. Just don't let it get to your head."

"I won't."

There was a small hint of sadness in Ranma's tone, one that Hinata might have missed had she not been paying close attention to Ranma's behavior. She had been married to Naruto for over twenty years, nearly forty years if you count the four years they've been replaying since going back in time and the next twelve years into the demon war before going back. Naruto, being a master at putting up masks to hide his emotions, was a good way for Hinata to learn how to see through those masks.

Ranma's mask was no different and she could now see it crack just a bit. "What's wrong?" She asked softly, already having an idea of what was bothering him. When he didn't reply she continues and said, "It's about Satsuki isn't it?" The way Ranma stiffened for a split second was more than enough of an answer for Hinata. "Don't worry about it so much. I understand how you feel. Naruto and I felt the same way back then."

"What happened?" Asked Ranma, sitting on the ground and leaning against the nearby tree. "I understand that she killed hundreds, most of them innocents, the first time around. But that doesn't explain why he hates her. It's not just a great dislike but pure hatred. I could feel it in his aura when he was ready to kill her yesterday. Did she kill someone important to him?"

"You're right, but it's not just that," replied Hinata, taking a seat on the ground to another side of the tree Ranma was leaning on. "She killed not one, but nearly all of our friends from our childhood. She also came close to killing Kotoko and Keiji several times and most of those times they were saved by one of our friends at the cost of their lives. Even Naruto came close to dying when her fist went right through his lung, just barely missing his heart. That was to save Kakashi and give him the chance to finally stop Satsuki."

"How _did_ you guys stop her anyway? From the way you're talking it's like not even Naruto could stop her at that time."

"Do you know about the Sharingan?" Ranma nodded. "I'm sure you also noticed that Kakashi has one as well, even if he isn't from the Uchiha Clan. There are four known stages to the Sharingan. The first three are similar and the only difference is how many tomoe are around the pupil. The fourth stage is the Mangekyou Sharingan. Kakashi's version of the Mangekyou Sharingan is different from what Itachi and Sasuke have. It was with the Mangekyou Sharingan that he managed to stop Satsuki."

"So if he didn't get in the way of the attack then Kakashi-san wouldn't have been able to stop her?"

"That's right. But her defeat came at a cost. When he sent Satsuki to another dimension, he had also sent Naruto along with her." Ranma gasped lightly in surprise at that statement. He was about to ask how he got back when Hinata answered the unasked question. "Naruto created the seal that he used to travel to your world when he was stuck in that other world. It was a variation of the Flying Thunder God Technique that he and the Yondaime use. Strangely enough, if it wasn't for that little mishap then he would never have met Belinda seeing as he ended up in your world."

"So that's how you guys managed to come to our world when the war started."

"More like how we all managed to get together when the war started. If it wasn't for that seal then we wouldn't have been able to gather together like this to fight the demons. It's also thanks to those seals that we can fight the numerous attacks around the world. Much like how the seals will be used to travel to the battleground in this war, we can use it to evacuate, retreat and plan ambushes in the war against the demons."

The two of them sat in silence after that, somewhat content with just sitting around doing nothing especially after their quick spar. It was only when Ino came that Hinata left and Ranma resumed his training, unaware of what was happening in the Iwa-Kumo headquarters.

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"DAMMIT!" A fist came down upon the desk, the force behind the blow causing it to break in half. "How could they have known?"

The Jounin standing in front of the Tsuchikage began to sweat profusely. Being the one of the few Jounins left over from the attack, he had been given the responsibility of reporting back the results of the battle. And reporting a failure was never good for one's health. He wisely kept his mouth silent, remembering what happened the last time that he had offered an answer to a question that had been asked in rage. He watched silently as she continued to curse until she finally calmed down enough to ask, "And what of Satsuki and her mission?"

"Em… well, she was last seen engaging the Hokage by herself. The Hokage would immediately kill anyone who tried to help her. When we returned to the battlefield there was no sign of her body and our scouts reported that she was being carried back towards Konoha."

"So… She was taken hostage then." Her words were in the form of a statement rather than a question. "I see. No doubt they'll try to get information out of her."

The man standing in front of her nodded and prayed to any and all gods that he would be allowed to leave. The gods appeared to be on his side as the Tsuchikage dismissed him, having heard the entire report of their failed attack. She cursed under her breath as she pulled out a familiar scroll. She unrolled it and focused a small amount of Chakra into the seal printed on it. The frown on her face grew when the seal gave no reaction at all. She tried again, applying more Chakra this time only to receive the same result. "No reaction as well, Shiori-san?"

She merely shook her head in defeat, the way the man spoke having answered her unasked question. "I was hoping that my master seal simply wasn't working even though I know that it is in perfect working order. But your words and the lack of reaction from the seal has confirmed it. Satsuki, is dead."

"So it would seem that their Hokage was more powerful than any of us had anticipated." Shiori just nodded at Minoru's words, having nothing to say to that particular statement. "Any idea as to how they managed to learn about the ambush we planned?"

"The only reason I can think of is that we have a traitor among the higher-ups. A spy won't be enough seeing as the plan was relayed to the attack force on the day we left for Fire Country. But there's something that bothers me. Why take Satsuki back to Konoha before killing her? Also, there's something else I realized just now."

"What's that?"

"Suna." Seeing the questioning glance she was being given she gave her explanation. "Even if there was a traitor among us and they had gotten word within the past two weeks what Suna had done bothers me. Our spies in and around Suna reported that there were no unusual activities going on within their walls. The only time they had begun to mobilize their forces was on the day of the attack, just a few hours after our own forces overtook the border camp. How could they have gotten to the battlefield in time if they had only left on the very day of the attack? Even at a constant speed it would take them at least a day and a half of non-stop running and after that they wouldn't have the energy to fight. And yet they arrive fully prepared for battle."

"You're right, that is very disturbing," agreed the Raikage, seeing the logic in her words. "Why not plant a spy within their army to find out how?"

"No, that wouldn't work," she replied. "I've tried that already. I planted spies within both the armies of Konoha and Suna. It was barely three days later that I received word that they had been killed. I don't know how they did it, just that they did."

"Well what do we do now? We lack information on the enemy. They seem to be able to travel great distances in a short amount of time. And the most important aspect is that without Satsuki we have no shinobi or weapon that can fight against Uzumaki. I know that you won't give up the fight and neither will I but we cannot just run in blindly."

"I know. Give me a moment." Shiori placed her hands together, lacing her fingers together as she placed her chin atop her hands and shut her eyes. She stayed in that position for several minutes before she opened her eyes and an evil grin appeared on her face. "I may have an idea. Have someone retrieve the journal and bring it here. If one man can do it, then why not us."

The Raikage gave an evil grin that matched the Tsuchikage's as he understood what she intended to do. "Very well. I'll have my best men come here as well so that they can begin their research."

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"You've gotten better at this. Even if by just a small bit."

"Thanks."

Ino glanced back to Ranma-chan upon hearing the tone of her voice. It reminded her of when she and the others were still young, having been forced not only to grow up quickly, but also to shoulder a heavy burden. They were currently trying to tackle Ranma's fear of cats since his sparring sessions ended early, Hinata and Kurenai being the only two available to test him of his progress. It was nearly four thirty in the afternoon when they decided to take a break. "Something wrong?" She asked, putting the box with the cat away.

Ranma-chan was about to shake her head, having already moved it to the left, but stopped and sighed instead. Ino patiently waited, giving Ranma-chan time to gather her thoughts. "Ino-san?" She began, not knowing why she called out her name as she was already listening to her. "What would you do if you had to decide between following what Naruto-san, as the Hokage and your friend, tells you to do and following what you want to do, knowing that if you did what you want then you might sacrifice your friendship?"

"Why are you asking me that? Did something happen?"

Ranma-chan sighed and told her about what had happened at the Hokage Tower two days ago, explaining how his and Naruto's morals clashed and the result of the argument. "Also," he said, interrupting whatever Ino had to say regarding the situation. "We captured an enemy ninja. The problem is, she's as strong as Naruto-san even when he has some help from the Kyuubi's power. He wanted to kill her but-"

"You don't want to kill her," she finished for him. "Why's that?"

"It's because she's only eight years old," he replied, causing Ino to become very concerned for some reason. "She's eight years old, has been training constantly for the past three years all so that they would be able to fight against the power that Naruto-san has. Maybe you could say that I feel sorry for her, having to be used like that. I know how it feels, being used that is."

"And you just want to free her from being used I take it?" Ranma-chan nodded. "But how are you sure that she'd want to leave? What if she was doing this of her own free will even knowing that she's just being used? What will you do if that happens?"

"If that's the case then I'll leave her alone. But that doesn't mean I'll let her die. She's still just a kid, one who was forced to grow up too quickly." His voice grew quiet as he finished that statement. There was a sad look in his eyes as he continued in a soft tone. "I know how that feels since pops took me away when I was young. He trained me from the moment I could walk to become the best martial artist in the world. I never had time to make friends or just enjoy anything else."

"We stopped traveling about two years ago and went back. It was around that time that I began to realize that I lost so much in exchange for what I got. Back then it didn't matter to me that I didn't have the same kind or even a similar childhood to just about everyone else. I can't say that I was happy, but I was comfortable with it. One day I saw a bunch of kids running around the playground. I had nothing else to do so I just sat there watching them. I saw the smiles on their faces when they played with their friends. Then suddenly I was asking myself when the last time I smiled like that was. I couldn't even answer my own question."

After a brief moment of silence, Ino spoke. "You know," she began, "I really didn't expect something like that from you. You peg me as someone who doesn't really think that much. You're more of the kind who'd do whatever you wanted or do what you felt was right, no questions asked. After hearing that little bit I guess I was a little off."

The conversation then turned a bit more serious as Ino began to voice her opinions. "You really are like Naruto, possibly even more."

"About that, why does everyone compare me to him? I always hear someone telling me that I'm a lot like him and frankly it's getting on my nerves."

"That's because you two are very much alike, especially when he was younger than you are. Many of us were close to him when he was younger. He was very much like you back then, kind to a fault, does things on a whim, very determined and just as stubborn." She ignored the small mutterings of a protest and went on with what she was saying. "Both of you have more than just that in common. Neither of you back down from a challenge, you are very sympathetic to those who have had a rough life, you despise people who pick on those weaker than them, the list goes on and on, there's practically no end to it."

"And yet, both of you are so different from each other. I've seen you when you fight and I noticed that you enjoy yourself when you do. But it's not really the fight that you enjoy. It's the challenge. Naruto on the other hand becomes a killing machine when he fights. He doesn't even enjoy the usual sparring sessions he has with Kakashi, Lee and Gai seeing as they're the only ones who can give him a decent challenge, and that's if they're working together. It's like one day he just changed and became so much more serious."

"Sakura-san told me about that. She told me that Hinata said it may be like what happened to Gaara-san, the demon's bloodlust might be getting too much for him so he's killing just to get rid of it."

"That can't be it," she replied, furrowing her brows in thought. "Naruto's seal is stronger than Gaara's so that shouldn't be happening. If it were happening then we would have felt the Kyuubi's Chakra."

"Then, what does that mean?"

"It's either Hinata or Naruto or possibly both who's lying and trying to keep us from worrying. And if they are then it is something to worry about."

'Like a war against the demons,' Ranma-chan noted mentally, gaining a bit more understanding in the situation around Naruto and why he acts the way he does. 'I guess I would be pushing others not to give way when something this dangerous is coming. The sooner he ends this war the more time they'll have to prepare for the next.'

Ino's voice pulled Ranma-chan out of her musings. "Anyway, it may be something to worry about but if Naruto and Hinata think that they can handle it then there's probably no need to worry. I'm sure they'll tell us if it's important." Ino looked up for a moment before she got up from the ground and dusted off her skirt. "Well, I've got something to take care of so I won't be able to make it later tonight. We'll continue tomorrow. Take care."

She formed a seal and disappeared in a swirl of leaves, leaving Ranma-chan alone in the training grounds. "I've really got to learn how to do that," she said to herself absently as she stood up as well then took to the trees, disappearing into the foliage as she went to the village for her next meal.

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Inside the Shodaime's prison, an auburn haired girl lay on her wooden, but strangely comfortable, cot that was inside the cell she was staying in. She had tried, earlier on, to use her own strength to break the wooden bars but a quick examination told her that the bars were strengthened by a large amount of Chakra. She had spent the entire day trying to examine her prison, trying to find out why it suppressed the Chakra of those inside. Unfortunately without the use of her Chakra her ability to examine her prison was limited to her five senses and the ability to sense Chakra. Instead of trying to break out, which she knew would be a complete failure, she just lay there the entire time, getting up only to eat the meals that were given to her by the ANBU guards that were on duty.

At first, she had contemplated simply starving herself to death or even killing herself with her own hands by snapping her neck. But then she remembered Ranma and what he said to her the previous night. His words and those she had been taught clashed with each other and the words stuck in her head, fighting over one another as to prove which was true. She had to admit that both sides had their advantages and she came to one thought. The only way to prove which one was truly the better path was to fight Ranma and see whose way of life would dominate over the other. Then there was also Naruto Uzumaki, the Hokage, to deal with. She thought back to the day when she first met the Raikage and the Tsuchikage.

_FLASHBACK_

A young girl opened her eyes then shut them immediately, the light from the windows stinging her eyes as they were still too familiar with the darkness. She slowly opened one eye and was greeted by the blurry sight of two people in the room. She slowly opened her other eye and blinked several times until her vision cleared up. Standing in front of her was a woman in her thirties and an older man, both of them wearing the same kind of robes with different colors, green for the woman and yellow for the man. "Ah, you're awake," said the woman. "How are you feeling?"

The girl tried to speak but her throat was dry and her voice came out hoarse. "Here," said the old man, helping her sit up and placing a glass of water in front of her lips. He tipped it over slowly as she drank the water, the cold feel of it clearing her throat. "Is that better?"

She nodded her thanks as the woman spoke once again. "Are you alright? You've been unconscious for the past three days."

"I… I have?"

"That's right."

Looking around the room for the first time, the girl realized that she didn't recognize anything. "Where am I? Who are you two? Better yet, who am I?" The shock that the two people in front of her displayed didn't register to the girl, trying hard to remember anything at all from before she woke up. "Wh-Why?" She began to ask, panic rising within her as she struggle to remember. "Why can't I remember anything?"

"I-I see, so that's the problem," she heard the woman mutter. "It seems that you have a case of amnesia. It would be understandable seeing as you were buried underneath the remains of a ceiling. We're actually surprised that you're alive. I'm Shiori Koji by the way, the current Tsuchikage. And this is Minoru Takamura, the Raikage."

"Tsuchikage? Raikage?"

Shiori just sighed heavily at that, looking down at the young girl sitting up on the bed. "I'll explain it some other time. But for now, what do you want to do?"

"I… I don't know."

"Understandable," commented Minoru in an elderly voice. "Take your time my dear, there's no hurry. Now then Shiori, I have some business to take care of so I'll leave you for now. I'll see if I can find any trace of the girl's parents or any family members so that they can take her in."

Watching Minoru leave the room, Shiori turned to the girl with a wondering look on her face. "Well, we can worry about other things when you've gotten more rest. But what should we call you for the time being? Any name you would prefer?"

She thought about it for a while before a name popped up into her head. "Satsuki."

Shiori looked at the newly named Satsuki for a moment before nodding. "Satsuki it is then."

_END FLASHBACK_

She thought about how everything from that moment on. They had helped her recover and regain use of her muscles, her muscles having been atrophied from the time she was buried underneath the debris of Orochimaru's lair to the time they had found her, a few days later. They had eventually recovered Orochimaru's journal, though she didn't know that, and simply told her that they discovered proof of who her father was but not her mother. She was overjoyed to know that she could finally regain a piece of her missing past only to have her hopes shattered when she was told that the man had been killed.

They offered her a chance to become strong so that she could take her revenge. She didn't know why she wanted to at that time, just that she did. She went through their training methods, training almost constantly so that she could become strong enough to avenge her father's death. It was nearly a year later that she discovered something that changed her greatly.

_FLASHBACK_

"So, how strong has Satsuki become this past year?"

Hearing the name of her voice, the young girl couldn't resist knowing what the Tsuchikage thought of her abilities. She masked her presence and soundlessly crept over to the door to the woman's office, moving her ear as close as she would dare to the door to hear the conversation better. "Her progress is amazing." This caused her to smile at the praise she was receiving. "Within only a year her overall abilities are that of a mid-rank Chuunin and she continues to grow stronger. We also discovered a bloodline that lay dormant within her that was activated recently. You remember the Mutsumi Clan that fled Kiri before the Mizukage could wipe out all the bloodlines? Well, it appears that she has their abilities."

"The Mutsumi Bloodline?" Came the shocked voice of the Raikage. "So that was the bloodline that was in the journal. I heard they settled down in what would have been Oto before they joined the snake and was killed in the war. I didn't think there were any survivors but that girl is proof that there was at least one survivor. With their abilities she could be an even greater weapon during the war. Not even the Kazekage's sand can crush her."

"Yes, but we cannot afford to be careless. Her training must continue so that she can become the ultimate weapon just as she was meant to be."

"And if she fails?"

"Then you can have her. Once you have what you want then there's no reason for her to continue living."

Satsuki stifled a gasp, not wanting to be found listening to the conversation that was going on inside the room. She continued to listen with hopes of finding out exactly what war they wanted her for. "How long do you think it would take before she is ready for him?"

"Given her progress so far I'd say that it would take her another year and a half, give or take a month," replied Shiori. "But just in case we'll keep training her for a total of three years. You never know just how much power you need with that man. Konoha's demon and Suna's weapon will be our true opponents in this war."

"And given that the demon we face is the man that killed Orochimaru should give us an estimate of how powerful he is. Convincing her to kill him was no hard feat, getting her to fight a war for us, on the other hand, may prove difficult."

"No matter. Once the Hokage falls, everything else should follow. And once this war ends we can get rid of her just to be sure that she doesn't turn against us in the future."

Having heard enough and feeling that they might be coming out soon, Satsuki quietly moved away from the door and down the length of the hallway, moving without a sound.

Later that night, Satsuki walked around the underground tower, slowly making her way to the top floor, which was on the thirtieth floor, from her room on fourth floor. In her pocket was the only object that she had on her person, a scroll. As she continued to go through the winding hallways that made up most of the tower she thought about what she was going to do once she managed to complete her task. So engrossed in her own thoughts, Satsuki failed to notice the individual standing directly in front of her. "Where do you think you're going?"

Mentally cursing herself for her lack of attention, Satsuki kept a passive face and said, "Outside."

The Tsuchikage raised an eyebrow at this, knowing full well the restrictions she had placed upon the girl. "And why would you be going there?" She asked, as though already knowing what the girl was up to. "You know you're not allowed outside."

"I won't be your pawn in this game," she replied, her face still devoid of emotion just as they had taught her. "I'm leaving."

She quickly rushed at the Kage, hoping to take her by surprise and escape before she could stop her. The Kage was quick to react and managed to jump out of the way for whatever attack she was planning. Changing tactics, she continued running forward, running through the hallway at top speed towards the exit two floors above her. Unfortunately the Tsuchikage caught up to her in seconds and was once again blocking her way. "There's no reason to run you know," said Shiori. "If you wanted to leave then you should have said so. We would have let you leave if you wanted. That is, if you can make it outside before you pass out or die."

She pulled out a scroll and unrolled it, revealing a seal. Placing her finger on the seal, she felt Shiori channel Chakra into the seal before it hit her. Pain. Pain unlike any she felt before. The pain spread all throughout her body as she crumpled to the ground, thrashing about before she managed to steel herself. Satsuki grit her teeth in pain but didn't scream, not wanting to give the woman the satisfaction of hearing her scream. She fought through the pain, slowly getting on her knees and beginning to crawl towards the stairs to the next level. Once she was in front of Shiori, however, the pain doubled in intensity, feeling like millions of white hot needles piercing through every cell of her body inside and out. She succumbed to the pain almost immediately and fell to the floor, her mouth wide open in a silent scream.

The pain only lasted ten more seconds before Shiori stopped pushing Chakra into the seal. Too tired to even more, Satsuki lay on the floor gasping for breath and trying to regain control of her body. "The pain you feel now will be nothing compared to what I will do if you ever disobey me again. And this time I might not even let you get this far before I begin."

Those were the last words she heard before her vision turned black.

_END FLASHBACK_

'Hard to believe that it's been two years since that day,' she mused, subconsciously rubbing the seal at the back of her neck, just below where her hairline ends. 'Two years and I can still remember the pain as though it happened just yesterday. But, I can't turn back now especially not after I've come this far. I will have my revenge Uzumaki. Once that's done all that's left will be to find a way to remove this seal and free myself from their servitude.' As she lay on her cot, a small grin made it's way to her face. 'Looks like Saotome's instinct was right, even if it wasn't completely true.'

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Later that night, Ranma, now back in his birth form, was once again sitting on the forest floor, attempting to draw out his Chi without the aid of his emotions. He was much better at it now than he was before but he knew that he still had a long way to go. Now he could maintain a decently powered Chi blast for up to five meters away but that was all. Any farther and it would begin it dissipate. He had compared the effects to an emotion powered blast and found that it was nearly twice as powerful as one powered by his emotions. It was not enough however, as Happosai told him months ago that pure Chi was at least three times as potent as that powered by emotion where the factor was dependent on the user's focus. The fact that it was only close to being twice as powerful was enough to tell him that he still had a very long way to go.

He continued to meditate, gathering his Chi with nothing but a neutral look on his face. His concentration never wavered, not even when somebody dropped down beside him. "Good evening Ranma. Naruto said you wanted to speak with me. He said something about you asking for some shampoo."

"Yeah, I did," he replied without breaking his concentration. "You've been traveling back and forth from our world right?" Happosai nodded. "Well, I need you to get in touch with the old ghoul."

"Cologne? If I'm right then you're asking for one of the Amazon's special formulas." Ranma just nodded in return, his concentration still unwavering as they held their conversation. "What's it for? Are you trying to forget someone or is it for someone else?"

This time, Ranma broke his concentration and opened his eyes before relaxing his posture and sighing. "It's for someone else, a girl actually." He then went on explaining the situation to him as well as his idea. "You understand, right? Why I can't just let this go by without trying to do something."

"I understand how you feel Ranma, believe me, I do. But answer this for me, is erasing her memory the right thing to do? Think about it Ranma, you said so yourself that she could very well be just a pawn in the enemy's game. But wouldn't erasing her memory essentially be the same thing?"

"This is different."

"Yes it is different but the principle is very much the same, manipulating her or rather, molding her," Happosai replied in a grave and somber tone with a serious look on his face. "You say that you have a feeling that they never gave her a choice in being a part of this war. Let's assume that you're right and she is being forced, isn't what you're doing the same thing? Making her forget everything just so that you can give her a second chance is not that different from forcing her to fight in a war. You're essentially destroying who she is and molding her the way you see fit just as they molded her to fight, even if it is with good intentions in your case."

Ranma opened his mouth to say something, anything, to defend his side of the argument when the aged grandmaster cut him off. "I'm not going to try to convince you to do otherwise Ranma. I'm just giving you something to think about before you go on ahead without this conversation only to later on have this conversation with yourself and feel guilty about what you've done. I know how much your honor means to you Ranma, so I'm just making sure you don't do anything you regret."

"I've already done several things I regret doing, what's another then?" Ranma asked Happosai in return. "I've done many things I regret over the years. I regret not leaving pops when I learned that what we've been doing was acting like thieves when I was younger. I regret not trying to stop him instead of just letting him do what he wants and staying out of it. I regret hiding the truth from mom over a stupid contract. I regret not admitting my feelings for Akane when I still felt something for her and ending the craziness sooner instead of letting it run it's course hoping that it would end."

All throughout his speech, Ranma's voice remained calm yet held a deep sadness and some anger but remained calm nonetheless. "I regret a lot of things Happosai. I know that I will regret this decision but there's truth in the saying 'the end justifies the means'. But to me, that saying doesn't apply to everything. I won't kill the enemy leader in their sleep even if it would end the war sooner. I won't betray my friends to save myself just so I can live to save someone I love. Sometimes I'll do whatever it takes to get what I want but there will be times that I won't do anything even if my life is on the line."

Happosai stared at Ranma with something akin to confusion and amusement but Ranma couldn't tell. Not even Happosai's Chi gave off enough emotion for Ranma to get any kind of clue as to what the man was thinking. It was only when Happosai shook his head in amusement did Ranma receive an answer. "You truly are a living conundrum Ranma. It's one of the reasons that makes being around you so amusing and why you can take martial arts to an entirely different level. You're much too unpredictable an opponent and that is your best asset."

Happosai's demeanor then changed from amused to serious in a split second. "But you're right though. Sometimes the end does justify the means but there will be times that no matter what end you achieve, the means that led to it is much too costly. I cannot safely say which category your plan falls in but I will leave it to you to decide if the end will justify the means in this situation."

Happosai made to leave but stopped just beside the tree line of the clearing and said to Ranma, "I'll be back tomorrow with the formula you wanted along with instructions and the antidote. It might not be shampoo like the one Shampoo used on Akane but it might be the same. I'll have to ask Cologne since she's the expert regarding this."

"That's alright," replied Ranma, nodding gratefully towards the diminutive master. "You already know what I plan to do. Since you're trusting me with the decision the least I can do is trust you to get what I need or maybe something better if there is something better."

Happosai nodded back and took to the trees, running in the direction away from Konoha towards where Ranma knew was the same place that he, Naruto and Kotoko traveled to from Nerima. Sighing heavily once more, Ranma returned got up from the ground and began walking back towards his next destination, Sakura Haruno's home. He arrived at her doorstep at exactly seven, just as they had agreed on, and knocked on her door.

Calling out for Ranma to come in, he let himself into her home just as she came downstairs. "Good, you're on time," she said, gesturing for him to follow her into the next room. The room was completely barren save for a strange seal on the floor and a different seal placed on the walls and the ceiling of the room. "First, let me explain the training."

Turning to face Ranma, he noted the serious look on her face, not unlike the look Naruto would give him. "This is a secret training method that I've developed just for you. You might hate me for this in the end, but it's necessary for you. I got the idea from your subspace pockets. If you can do it with your Chi, what makes doing it with Chakra different? It's like sealing objects into scrolls except that instead of a scroll, it's a personalized pocket. What I'll be doing is opening a doorway of sorts to a different dimension. That's where we'll be training."

"The training will be in different areas consisting of different levels as well. I'll also be giving you simulations of battle scenarios. Sometimes you could be in charge of the ninjas while sometimes you'll just be a subordinate. I know Naruto will want to give you lessons in battle tactics so I'll be giving you the lessons in advance. Time in the dimension will also move differently from the real world. An hour out here is about half a day inside the dimension so we can train longer than normal."

"Question. If you can do this then why don't the others try it as well?"

"That's because I'm the only one who knows how to do it. No one, not even Naruto knows about this. Before you ask, let's just say that I have my reasons for not letting anyone else know about this. Before we begin I'll need you to promise that you won't mention this method of training or the fact that I'm training you to anyone else. Can I count on you to do that?"

Ranma mulled it over for a moment before nodding. "Alright, I promise."

Nodding her head, Sakura turned to the seal on the floor and began to form a long series of handseals. Ending with a seal that Ranma didn't recognize, she placed her hands on the seal. As soon as she did it began to glow. Ranma watched as a strange aura enveloped Sakura. He immediately knew that he knew the feel of the aura, having felt it somewhere before, but couldn't place it. The power washed over the two of them before their environment changed. Gone was the barren room they were standing in before. What replaced it was what appeared to be the arena where Naruto had fought him.

"Get ready Ranma," came the voice of Sakura. "What I'll be doing first is an estimate of your overall skills." Turning to where she was, Ranma noted that she was preparing to attack him. "Don't hold back on me now" She called out. "In this dimension, I can do anything I want to. In this dimension, I am God." To prove her point, she pointed at the wall to Ranma's right. As soon as she did the wall exploded outwards. She did the same to the opposite wall before raising her hand up, palm facing the sky. There was a short tremor before water erupted from the ground like a geyser. "I've also removed the barrier that Happosai placed on you so that you can fight to the fullest. It will return as soon as you leave this dimension so don't get your hopes up."

"Alright, but what's the point of all of this? You should already have an idea of what I can do."

"I know what you can do, but what I want to know is what you are willing to do." Seeing the befuddled look on Ranma's face she continued. "What I want you to do, is to try and kill me." She ignored Ranma's reaction, which was to freeze up, and went on with her explanation. "I know you don't want to do this, but I will do whatever it takes to help you understand. Sometimes you won't be given a choice as to whether or not to kill your opponent. Sometimes a second's hesitation is all that is needed to turn the tides of an entire battle."

"B-But I can't kill you."

"If you won't then you'll never be able to leave." That got his attention. "I will only allow you to leave once I'm satisfied. This will be the only session we will be having and as I've told you, I won't allow you to quit now that you're here. Simply defeating me is not an option. You'll have to kill me if you want to leave. Killing yourself won't be an option either." She prepared herself, watching as Ranma hesitantly dropped into a defensive stance. "This, Ranma, will be our first and last fight. So prepare yourself."

_END CHAPTER_

**And this is the end for this chapter. So how was it? Please click on the 'GO' button at the bottom of the page and tell us what you think of this chapter. Like it? Hate it? Love it? Despise it? Comment? Suggestion? Flames? Criticisms? Any and all is welcome as nothing you say can discourage us, only motivate us to write better, if we can. Also, please vote for one of the two outcomes regarding Ranma's decision with whether or not he will erase Satsuki's memory. Should he go on with his original plan and erase her memory or should he feel guilty about what he is about to do and make a different decision? Please vote and tell me what you want to see.**

**So until next time then.**


	18. Arc 2 Chapter 8

Terms of Engagement

Terms of Engagement

By Overlord of Order and Overlord of Chaos

**SUMMARY: What if many of the on-goings involving Genma and Nodoka was all a hoax? What if most of what they've said was a lie? What reason could they have to lie to so many people? What does it have to do with Ranma's future?**

**Wow, it's been at least a month since we've last updated. Sorry for taking so long with this chapter. Nearly two months of writer's block and neither of us could actually find the words we needed for some of the scenes in this chapter. **

**As for the votes, you'll just have to wait and see. I forgot who it was, but someone asked why we even had to decide whether or not he should use it. The answer as to why we would have made him go through with it has something to do with his character development through this story. We won't be telling but some of you might understand it later on.**

**Thank you everyone, once again, for the reviews. We really appreciate knowing what you think of our story. Thanks again.**

_Previously_

"_I know what you can do, but what I want to know is what you are willing to do." Seeing the befuddled look on Ranma's face she continued. "What I want you to do, is to try and kill me." She ignored Ranma's reaction, which was to freeze up, and went on with her explanation. "I know you don't want to do this, but I will do whatever it takes to help you understand. Sometimes you won't be given a choice as to whether or not to kill your opponent. Sometimes a second's hesitation is all that is needed to turn the tides of an entire battle."_

"_B-But I can't kill you."_

"_If you won't then you'll never be able to leave" That got his attention. "I will only allow you to leave once I'm satisfied. This will be the only session we will be having and as I've told you, I won't allow you to quit now that you're here. Simply defeating me is not an option. You'll have to kill me if you want to leave. Killing yourself won't be an option either." She prepared herself, watching as Ranma hesitantly dropped into a defensive stance. "This, Ranma, will be our first and last fight. So prepare yourself."_

_Arc 2: Ninja Training_

_Chapter 8: Decisions_

"FIGHT BACK!"

Ranma grimaced in pain as his body slammed into the arena's walls, causing the wall to collapse onto him due to the force of the blow. He pushed the debris off his body only to feel a hand around his neck. Before he could defend against it he found himself flying towards the other end of the arena, crashing into the already ruined wall. Blinking out of existence, the pink-haired medic-nin reappeared in one of the viewing areas of the arena.

Ranma was shocked by her sudden appearance that he couldn't react in time to her punch. This time the real Ranma was sent flying back into the arena, crashing into the ground and creating a long trench before he crashed into the arena walls once again.

He was picked up by Sakura once more, this time holding him up by his shirt. "Still won't fight back?" She asked before punching him in the gut. His only coherent thought was that her punches and kicks hurt more than Ryoga's and Lee's combined. "If you think that I'll let you out of here if you lose consciousness then think again. I'll simply wait for you to get back up before we continue where we left off. I'm a medic-nin so I'll be able to heal your injuries if you do fall unconscious."

With a vicious uppercut to the jaw Ranma found himself airborne as he fell back down, crashing into the spectator seats and creating an imprint of his body on the floor. He struggled to stand, if only to show that he won't back down even if he won't fight back. That had been his only goal for the past two hours, trying to withstand the physically overwhelming attacks of Sakura until she gives up or stops the lessons for any sort of reason.

Sakura, seeing that merely attacking the teenager won't work, began to think of a different plan. "What now?" She asked herself. "This method isn't working like we expected." She paused for a moment as though listening to a reply, nodding and now and again until she said, "Alright. It can't hurt to try anyway."

She disappeared once again and reappeared in front of Ranma, who prepared to defend against any attacks coming from Sakura. "Why aren't you fighting back Ranma? Is it because you don't want to kill? Or is it because you're afraid to?" Had she blinked at that moment, she would have missed the small reaction coming from Ranma, one that she nearly missed. "Why are you afraid of killing Ranma?"

"Killing is just plain wrong!" Growled out Ranma, speaking for the first time since the fight began hours ago. "You really expect me to kill you, just so you can teach me how to kill?"

"Death is a part of life Ranma! Whether you like it or not that statement will always be true. Whether in the form of old age, an illness, murder, suicide or even an accident, death will always be present."

"I know that! But killing is just plain wrong! They are human just like us!"

"And you think _that _stops them from trying to kill us?" she yelled back at the martial artist. "In a world of ninjas and samurai there is nothing wrong with killing your enemy. It's either us or them and in war, we don't have a choice. We can't afford to be picky and choose who to kill and who to spare. One mistake could lead to the death of hundreds, maybe even thousands of innocents."

"But that doesn't mean that you have to kill everyone in your way."

"You said so yourself in Naruto's office Ranma. Ninjas serve and protect a lord. Konoha is the village that produces ninjas to serve the Daimyo of this country. An attack on Konoha is like attacking the army of the Daimyo. If we die then there is no guarantee that the Daimyo will not lose his life to the enemy. We don't know whether or not their plan is simply to destroy Konoha or to take over this country."

"Either way, we cannot lose this war. If Konoha is destroyed and they decide to leave the Daimyo alone, who's to say that nobody will take advantage of the fact that Konoha is gone and attack the Daimyo to take over the country?"

"What about what I said to Naruto-san back then? What if they send a kid to fight? Do you really expect me to kill them too?"

"Ninjas are considered adults, regardless of age. The only difference is how much authority they have over the other ninjas. I doubt that Iwa and Kumo would send out Genin unless they were simply cannon fodder to weaken us but even then, Genin wouldn't really be able to tire us out that much. Sometimes you'll meet shinobi who are younger than you but stronger than myself or even Naruto without the Chakra of the Kyuubi."

"Even if they do send out Genin, there's nothing much left to do. Though they serve someone they still have a will of their own. If they decide to come to the battlefield then that's their choice. They decided to gamble with their lives. If their lucky then they live, if not…"

"But it's still wrong. Killing is wrong."

"Saying that is like saying that killing to protect is wrong. Naruto killed hundreds in the war against Oto simply to protect Konoha. If he hadn't killed Orochimaru then he would have come back over and over until he is dead or Konoha is destroyed. And there's no telling just how much more dangerous he might be by that time. Hinata, Kiba, Shino, Neji, Lee, Tenten, Chouji, Shikamaru, Ino, Naruto and myself, we've all killed before. All of us have already killed someone before we turned fourteen. Kakashi killed long before he was ten years old."

"All this may be true but we all killed for the same reason, to protect. You're basically telling me that killing because we want to save someone is wrong. If we didn't kill our enemies during those times then some of the people we know might not be alive anymore. Naruto tells me that you've killed before to save someone precious to you. If what we did was wrong, then what makes what you did any different?"

"Because I didn't enjoy what I did."

His words came out a near whisper but Sakura managed to hear it. "Is that it?!" She snapped at him in anger. The anger rolling off her was more than enough to catch Ranma's attention and more, causing him to become more alert. "Do you really think that we enjoy killing? Is that why you're afraid to kill? Because you're afraid that one day you might find yourself killing because you like it?"

The look in his eyes was more than enough to answer her question. "We are not monsters Ranma. Naruto doesn't enjoy killing and neither do we. We kill out of necessity and survival, not because we enjoy it. There may be many out there who enjoy killing and it becomes our job to stop them if we're asked to."

"We're not gods Ranma, nor are we the ones who decide who lives and who dies or what's right and what's wrong. But we do have a right to fight for what we believe in. We are simply fighting for what we believe in, nothing more nothing less. And if you can't understand that then you won't be able to protect those you care for. And if that's the case then you won't be able to help Konoha. You're just as weak as I expected. Perhaps I should kill you now."

As Sakura rushed towards Ranma to attack him once again, she couldn't help but smirk at the burning determination that appeared in his eyes. She wasn't surprised when her punch met nothing but air as Ranma disappeared from his spot. He reappeared behind her and lashed out with a kick to her head but missed when Sakura disappeared as well. "I. Am. Not. Weak!"

"You say that but can you prove it? Physically I have no doubt. But what about mentally? Emotionally as well? Can you truly say that you are strong in all aspects? If you break the moment that you take a life then you are weak. Any sort of weakness is a liability in any fight, especially in a war."

Ranma growled in response and lunged at Sakura, who moved out of the way only to be punched from behind by one of Ranma's Replications. However, she disappeared in a puff of smoke, the real Sakura attacking Ranma from behind only for her fist to go through this one. 'A Regular Clone? I should have sensed the difference. What did he do? Why couldn't I sense it?'

She didn't have time to make theories or test them as a barrage of Chi blasts came her way from just about every direction. Forming the necessary handseals she was soon replaced by one of the rocks in the area, just in time to avoid the attack. Forming a familiar handseal, she created a handful of Shadow Clones and engaged Ranma's Replications.

As both groups fought, Ranma came to realize that his own Chi reserves seemed to be unlimited. No matter how many Chi blasts he shot or how many Replications he created his Chi reserves seemed to stay the same.

Although both were breathing hard and sweating heavily, they continued to fight. Though fighting with a limited arsenal of Chi technique and still below par Chakra techniques, Ranma's hand to hand skills, quick wits, cunning and instincts made up for it. Sakura, on the other hand, fought with perfect Chakra Control, a wide range of Chakra techniques, her Chakra enhanced attacks and nearly thirty years of combat experience.

The fight went on for minutes, minutes turning into hours and hours turning into days. Ranma was surprised that he was still standing after fighting for three days, nearly four. He didn't even feel the least bit tired or more importantly, hungry. He was even more surprised when he realized that he knew how long they had been fighting. 'No time to think about that,' he thought, dodging another one of Sakura's powerful punches. 'I've got to stop her.'

He racked his brain, searching for any method that could stop her and end the battle. Unfortunately for him, nothing he could think of could or would work. The Heavenly Dragon Ascension Wave only worked until she used Replacement with another rock. It was only later that he thought of the possibility that if he had unlimited Chi and Chakra then Sakura might be the same, thus making the technique useless all the same.

In the end, there was only one thing he could think of to end the fight in his favor. 'This… Best plan I could come up with and I might be the one who ends up dead,' he admitted to himself. 'I've only got one shot at this. If I fail then it won't work a second time. I'm definitely gonna regret this in the end.'

"You're still not taking this seriously Ranma," said Sakura and her clones, all eleven of them rushing towards the lone Ranma in between them. "If you don't do anything then I'll end this now."

All eleven pink-haired women quickly closed the gap between them and Ranma. When Sakura felt the build-up of power coming from Ranma, she prepared to react to whatever he had to throw at her. 'An Explosion Wave, it's the only thing he could use to get out of this situation.'

Sakura immediately jumped away, knowing just how much the explosion hurts from first-hand experience. Just as she expected Ranma blasted all the clones away with an explosion, the light and the dust sent flying by the explosion temporarily blinding her. It was at that time that she felt several hands take hold of her limbs, four hands on each limb to be exact with the four Ranmas holding her legs coming from underground. She tried to break free but found that Ranma managed to hold her down even with her muscles strengthened with her Chakra. She could still move but only barely and unless she could move one hand to her other arm then she wouldn't be able to escape.

"Please, give up Sakura-san," she heard Ranma's voice coming from the large dust cloud that covered his position. "I don't want to have to do this."

"Still afraid of killing? You should know by now that I'll kill you the first chance I get. As I've told you already, if you want to leave this dimension then you'll have to kill me. I'll even make it easier for you. The only way to kill me in this dimension is to kill me immediately. That's right, my head is your only target."

Ranma clenched his fist tightly upon hearing that. He had planned to deal a critical blow to avoid killing her but hearing her words reminded him that she was God in the dimension and if that was true then he had no doubt that the only way to kill her really was an instant death.

Growling at himself for getting into this situation, he steeled himself for what he was about to do. He ran out of the smokescreen he created towards Sakura, gathering his Chi in his hands to perform one of the techniques in the scroll Happosai had given him. "I'm sorry Sakura-san," he said just loud enough for Sakura to hear, who was now only about three feet away from him. His right arm, which was now to his left, cut to the right just as he called out the name of the technique. "Energy Blade."

Sakura could only gape at the pure white blade of Chi that appeared around Ranma's knife hand as it rushed towards her neck. A lone tear fell from Ranma's eye to the ground just as Sakura's own head hit the ground, a look of shock plastered on her face. Ranma's Replications turned into Chi once more as Ranma himself slumped to the ground on his knees, his head facing the ground as tears streamed down his face.

"Why?" He asked himself in a whisper as his surroundings turned to black, not that he really noticed or cared at the moment. "Why the hell did it have to be this way?" His voice grew louder with every word as he shouted out to the darkness in anguish. "Why? God dammit, TELL ME WHY!"

He slammed his fist on the ground in front of him. He pulled it back then punched again with his other hand. He did this repeatedly, punching it again and again and letting out a strangled, pain filled cry with every punch. He only stopped once he felt drained of energy, which was roughly five minutes later, and settled on just staying on his knees while repeating one question, 'Why?'

For what seemed like hours, he knelt on the ground crying for the first time since the failed wedding roughly one year ago. He had killed before but there was a large difference. Killing Saffron was like killing an enemy, one who wanted to kill his fiancée. Killing Sakura felt like murdering a friend, something that he didn't have many of and that made it that much worse.

He kept telling himself that there was no other way but he only ended up feeling guiltier that he couldn't think of a way to end the fight without someone dying. Of all the people he had met since coming to this world he had spent the least amount of time with Sakura. Though that was true he still felt closer to the pink-haired woman than any of the others. She seemed to understand him very well, almost as though she knew exactly how he felt or what he had been through. He knew it was possible that they had met before in some strange way, given the way his life goes, but it was highly improbable as he would definitely remember someone with pink hair.

He cursed the gods, cursing them and asking what he had done to deserve that kind of life. Was he some kind of murderer in a past life? Was he a thief like how Genma had been during his childhood? Did he do anything at all in the past to piss off one or more gods? He had not been a firm believer when it came to spiritual aspects such as gods, demons and spirits but his numerous encounters with them in the past two years changed that although not to the extent that he believes that his fate is set in stone.

His life was full of hardships, ranging from the smallest problems to the most unbelievable of them all. He believed that there wasn't a single problem that he had not encountered. Even if there were situations he had yet to encounter, he knew, somehow, that he would encounter it in the future. He wanted to believe that everything would get better eventually but once again, he doubted his own words.

"You're so stupid." His head shot up when he heard the voice speaking. He looked around but found no one there. He was about to pass it off as his imagination when he heard the voice again. "Just because you can't see me doesn't mean I don't exist, boy." The voice was familiar but he couldn't match it with a face or a name.

"Did you really think that you could live your life without having to kill? Just as that woman said, death is a part of life. Though we aren't the leading authority on who lives and dies we do have a right to fight for our beliefs. You believe that your duty is to protect those who cannot protect themselves so you should fight for it."

Ranma opened his mouth to retort but he was interrupted before he could even begin. "I know what you're going to say so keep your mouth shut." Ranma complied with the command. "Once they're beaten then they fall into that category, right? Well you're right about that. However, just as you told the old man, sometimes the end justifies the means, sometimes they don't. In this case it does. Killing is a form of protection, protection from what is yet to happen."

"If it hasn't happened yet then I have no reason to kill them. What makes you think that they'll come back to fight?"

"What makes _you_ think they won't?" The voice shot back. That retort made Ranma shut up, much to his dismay at losing the argument. "Let's take you for example. You were beaten in a fight yet you come back to try once again. Do you honestly believe that you are the only one with that kind of determination? If you can come back to fight against someone you lost to, why can't they?"

"To them you are an obstacle, one that must be taken down before you hinder their progress any further. To you they are an obstacle, one that must be taken down in order to successfully protect the people of Konoha. While both obstacles stand, neither side can reach their goal. So long as you and the other Konoha ninjas are alive, they cannot successfully attain their goal. And while they are alive, they pose a threat to those you are trying to protect."

"I just don't want to have to kill. Killing should only be a last resort."

"Think about it this way. Either you, along with Konoha, kill enough of the enemy shinobi to force them to surrender or you don't kill as much as you should and let the war go on longer than it should, killing many more people, possibly including innocents and those on your side of the war. You choose."

Ranma was silent for a long time, even though it was an obvious decision in his mind. Every time he opened his mouth, he couldn't seem to form the necessary words. 'Is it because I'm afraid?' He asked himself. 'Afraid to admit that killing may be the only way to end this war sooner? Killing never solves anything so why should it be the solution now?'

"Because just like now there will be times when your only option is to kill or be killed, there is no gray area so that both sides may survive without any deaths," replied the voice as though knowing what Ranma was currently thinking. "With your duty to protect others it may be a necessity at times to kill in order to protect. Think about it this way, a killer is on the loose and you encounter him just as he is trying to kill someone. You would, of course, stop him from doing so and engage him in a fight."

"You stop him and you decide whether or not to kill him. In the end, you allow him to leave with the thought that he would have learned his lesson. Later on, he comes back and kills that same person from before only this time you weren't there to stop him. When you hear about this, you'll most definitely blame yourself for either not being there this time, not doing something more to stop the danger he poses or not killing him earlier. You will most likely chase after him in rage in order to get him back for what he did. It is only later that you manage to find him and most likely kill him, after he had killed many other people. Had you killed him earlier then he would not have a chance to kill that person later on. Also, there would only be the death of the killer and not the death of both the killer and the innocents."

Ranma took the time to think about those words. He wanted nothing more than to deny it and claim that he would not have killed the killer but he knew deep down that he would be lying if he said so. While only hypothetical in nature, the speaker had anticipated exactly what Ranma would have done, even going so far as to killing the killer in the end to get him back for the many people he has killed, even if it was in blind rage.

"I…" Ranma hesitated, but knew that the one who was speaking caught onto his way of thinking. "You're right," he finally admitted. "I am afraid of killing. Afraid that I'd eventually come to enjoy it. I still can't say that killing is right, but at least now I can admit this. This doesn't really mean I'll kill just anyone, even if they are my enemies. But if I have to, maybe I could bring myself to do it. But only if I have to and if there's no other choice."

There was silence for a while before the voice spoke once more just as a small amount of light appeared in the distance. "I suppose that's as far as I'll get with you for now. It's a start at least. Just never forget that killing may sometimes be the only way to end a battle. I'll speak with you again when the right time comes. And don't bother asking who I am. You'll find out soon enough. Now hurry and wake up. Someone's getting worried for your health."

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Back in the real world, the pink-haired medic-nin was furiously shaking Ranma back and forth. She'd woken up several minutes after activating the technique only to find Ranma lying unconscious beside her. Finding it strange that he was still unconscious when he should have woken up at the same time as her, she ran several tests on him and even tried to revive him with medical techniques only to find that he would not awake. She grew worried and resorted to shaking him back and forth, even going so far as to try slapping him awake, but still, he would not wake.

She was about to rush him to the hospital when he began to stir from his slumber. He mumbled something about if he had no other choice before his eyes began to open slowly. He looked on with his blurred vision and saw something pink right in front of him. He opened his eyes wider, blinking every now and then until his vision was clear once more. "S-Sakura-san?" He whispered to himself, still in a daze. When he finally realized that she was right there in front of him, he shot up to a sitting position, missing Sakura's head by millimeters since she jumped back by the sudden movement. "I-it's you right? You're really alive?"

"Of course I'm alive. What else did you expect?"

"I thought I killed you."

"Oh, that." Her expression of worry dropped at that. Ranma knew that something was wrong when she refused to look him in the eyes. Before he could ask what was wrong, she began speaking. "Ranma, I know how hard that must have been for you. I knew how hard it would be but it was necessary. Naruto… Jiraiya-sama, one of the sannin and the one who trained Naruto, told me about it once. It was the first time that Naruto killed without tapping into the Kyuubi's power."

"It was a few months after they left Konoha. They were traveling through Earth Country at that time when Jiraiya-sama was spotted by Iwa ninjas who were patrolling the area. Jiraiya-sama drew most of them away from Naruto but one of them spotted him and attacked him while Jiraiya-sama was busy with the other ten. The man was a Jounin while Naruto's skills at that time were a Chuunin's at best. Much like your battle with me, he had no choice but to kill the man."

"He was a wreck afterwards. He barely ate, he didn't sleep because of his nightmares, he would stare at his hands most of the time while muttering about the blood and he didn't even train at all. Not even the offer of learning another technique of his choosing snapped him out of it. Jiraiya-sama spoke with Naruto a few days after the event and learned that he had the same problem as you. He was afraid of becoming what it was the village labeled him as, a monster, a demon, just like the Kyuubi."

"But, what does that have to do with me?"

Instead of answering his question, Sakura just went on with her tale. "At that time, a group of S-class missing-nins called Akatsuki were after Naruto for the sole purpose of extracting the Kyuubi for their own purpose. During those four days that Naruto was feeling guilty over his first real kill, he was vulnerable. If the Akatsuki had found him at that time then he wouldn't be here today."

"I know your secret Ranma. I know where you really come from." She looked up to see the shocked look on his face and his mouth opened to protest but she cut him off. "There's no use denying it Ranma, I overheard Naruto speaking with Hinata about it. I also know the real reason you're here, which is why I decided to do this. If you truly are the one who will tilt the future battle in our favor, then you'll have to stay alive until that time."

"We're in a war and in a war, death is unavoidable. If you were forced to kill someone out there and you end up like Naruto did then you'll be killed if there's no one around to protect you. I'm not saying that you will end up like him, just that there's a chance that you will. And if even Naruto is relying on you to turn the tides of a battle that hasn't even begun then we can't afford to let anything happen to you."

Although Ranma could see the wisdom in her words, his pride wouldn't allow him to just let them protect him when he could protect himself just fine. "So you don't think I can keep my emotions in check and just let myself be killed?"

"I never said that."

"But that's what you're implying isn't it? You're making it sound as if I can't protect myself, that I'm that weak to allow myself to be overcome by my emotions in the middle of a fight."

"I never said that you would, just that you might. And if there's a chance that something could go wrong then we should be trying our best to lessen the damage. I'm sorry if you feel that we don't have any confidence in you but it's not that. We just can't take our chances especially with demons coming to attack us. The Kyuubi was bad enough, how much worse do you think it would be if more than one demon attacks?"

"The only method we have of defeating demons is sealing then within something, but higher level demons can only be sealed inside a living being. You have to understand that we're now relying on you to help us out. What's the point of having you help out if you die before the demons arrive?"

Ranma sighed and turned away, looking out the window into the starry sky. "It's just… I don't like to be protected. It makes me feel weak knowing that someone has to protect me the whole time. I don't mind if someone looks out for me, but I don't like it when people try to protect me from just about everything."

"Well I can't force you to do anything you wouldn't want. But, be careful all the same. Anyway, meet me here at the same time next week for your next session."

"Uh… about that. How are you still alive? I thought that I'd… well… killed you."

"Did you already forget what I said? In that dimension, I am God. It doesn't take much to create a perfect clone of myself at the last moment. That's the way of the shinobi Ranma. Deception and stealth are our greatest allies. You'll have to take Kakashi's lesson to heart, look underneath the underneath."

"I don't really bother with things like that. If I find it out, then I do. If I don't, then I'll deal with it when I do find out. Nothing ever goes as planned when I'm concerned so I shouldn't bother planning or finding out what the plan is. Anyway." Ranma stood up and began walking to the front door with Sakura. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow afternoon."

"See you tomorrow then." She bid him farewell and shut the door, watching through the window as he left towards his apartment. "Looks like it worked out better than I thought." She walked into the kitchen and began to prepare something for herself, all the while talking with somebody. "He now understands just how important he is to the coming war and what he'll need to do to survive until that time. It just depends when he'll actually start… I know it's not the right time yet but I just… Don't worry, I'll stick to the plan. I just wish I didn't have to."

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"How long until it is ready?"

Glancing around, Ranma soon realized that he was once again in a vision, still unable to move as before. In front of him was the unmistakable form of Ballog. Even in broad daylight, his face was still unseen and hidden in the shadows that seemed to cover his body wherever he went. They were once again in a tent, similar to where Ranma saw his personal guard deliver a young girl to him. Ballog was once again sitting on a chair behind a large planning table while his personal guard was sitting around the table.

"The research team is still missing several key components such as metal found only in the demon realm. There are also forms of magic that they do not yet know of as well as the necessary energy."

"I see. You may go. Tell no one of this." The humanoid demon left, leaving Ballog with his four demonic guards. "Looks like we'll have to help the research team out," he said to the four once the demon was gone. "Seera, I want you to return to the demon realm and retrieve the metal they need. After that, look for someone who knows the magic they need and copy the knowledge. Give the research team the metal and implant the knowledge into one of them."

"Understood." Without another word, Seera stood from her seat and disappeared into the shadows, leaving the remaining four by themselves.

"Ashura, I want you to infiltrate the human's base and give this to Belinda. Tell her that I expect her to finish these tasks within one week. Schedule a meeting with her everyday for a report on her progress. While you're there, see if they've come up with anything new."

She stood and for the first time, Ranma could clearly see the features of the female demon named Ashura. She had a slender body, putting to shame that of most of the women Ranma had seen in his life. She had short black hair in a pageboy cut and had a sharp look on her face, both of which reminded him greatly of Nabiki. Her eyes were slanted, silver slitted eyes and pointed ears. She had a pale complexion and her clothing was a plain, long-sleeved, form fitting black dress with wide sleeves. She left with a nod, disappearing into the shadows as well.

Looking down at the last two unnamed demons, Ranma saw that the pair of demons were both female as well. 'What's up with this guy and female guards?' The light from outside didn't reach the female demons so he couldn't make out their features. Strangely enough, he didn't see the nine-tailed demon anywhere in the tent so he assumed that he was out somewhere. 'I wonder what that research team is trying to do.'

"So old man," began the one sitting next to Ballog. Ranma remembered her as the one Ballog called his descendant from the previous dream. "Why the heck are you so interested in their project? Shouldn't you be doing the opposite of that?"

"Not really. I intend to use their plan against them. The way the war is going now will only end in disaster for both sides regardless of which side wins. Don't forget that my real job isn't to win this war for either side. I might even end up having to kill most of both sides at this rate."

"Sorry. It's a bit easy to forget what you're really here for when we're in the middle of a war."

"It's alright. Anyway, you two should get some rest. Tomorrow's going to be a long day."

Nodding to the demon, both women left the tent to do whatever. Standing from his seat, Ballog waved a hand at the entrance and a faint blue barrier appeared before it became transparent. He waved another hand over the ground behind his seat and a small cot appeared with a young girl asleep on it. "Don't worry kiddo, we won't have to live in this hell much longer. In three months, I'll be able to make everything right again."

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Early the next day, Ranma was once again at the training grounds, trying to unseal his Chi once again. He was getting closer to being able to use pure Chi with only a small amount of effort but often times he became excited at that thought and lost his focus. Of course, what made it more difficult was that he was also training his Chakra Control with by running on water. His main goal was not to fall into the water and change into a girl while still trying to gather enough Chi to break Happosai's barrier.

The dream from the previous night made him uneasy. There was something suspicious about the two unnamed members of Ballog's group. There was something familiar about the way they acted but he couldn't place what it was he had seen that was bothering him so much.

Launching another ball of white Chi, Ranma watched as it flew out of his hands and into the river, the explosion causing a small torrent of water to shoot up into the air. 'I guess that's all I've got for now,' he thought, walking back to the edge of the river then lying on the ground. 'I wonder how Satsuki-chan's doing?'

Thinking about the young girl reminded Ranma about what he was about to do upon Happosai's return. 'Am I really doing the right thing?' He asked himself, gazing up at the clouds as they soared past him. 'What I'm doing is different, right? I'm doing this for her own good.'

He paused at those words that crossed his mind, a memory of Genma saying the very same words to him before tossing him into a pit of cats. Another memory resurfaced where Genma said those words before shoving him off the top of a tall building. Several more memories resurfaced, all of them with Genma saying those exact words in different situations, many of them situations where he was seriously hurt in the end.

A pang of guilt struck him as pain gripped his heart, his hand doing the same as he tried to soothe the pain. The more that he thought about what he was about to do, the guiltier he felt. 'Was I really that mad at what they'd done to her? Did I let my anger get the best of me, so much that I didn't even feel guilty at what I was about to do? Or was it something else? But what other reason could I have not to feel guilty about that?'

Ranma sighed heavily as he sat up. 'If my life wasn't complicated before then it sure is now. I really wonder if this was worth getting out of the engagements for. Would it have been better to stay in the fiancée and rival mess instead of having to fight this war and another one with the demons?' He sighed once again. 'Maybe not. At least now I'm not exactly being forced to do something I don't want. Sure there's a lot of pressure but at least I'm doing this because I want to.'

A rustling of leaves from behind him caught Ranma's attention. He leapt to his feet and spun around, landing atop the water in a ready stance. When he saw who it was, Ranma relaxed and walked back to dry land and stood in front of Happosai. "Looks like you're progressing with the use of their Chakra. Good, good."

"Hey old man," he said in a gloomy tone. "Can I uh… talk to you?"

Puzzled by his student's current mood, Happosai nodded and sat on the ground with Ranma sitting next to him. "So my boy, what seems to be troubling you? Is it about that girl?"

Ranma nodded sorrowfully and kept his head down, a sign of just how depressed he was. "Tell me honestly, do you think I'm doing the right thing?"

"No. No Ranma, you're not doing the right thing in my opinion." This statement only caused the pigtailed martial artist to become further depressed. "Easy there boy, you've got enough depression to match Ryoga's Roaring Lion Shot. As I said, that's my opinion. There are many people out there who might say otherwise but there will also be those who will agree with me."

"There are also many ways to view this situation. Some people might think you're trying to manipulate the girl into fighting for you much like the enemy. Others might see it the way you do, giving the girl a second chance at a normal life. In the end it all comes down to how people think. Personally I think you're doing the right thing but for your sake, it's wrong. You value honor too much to throw it away like this. I can see that you've been thinking about it as it's the only reason why you'd feel this bad."

"You're feeling guilty that you might be doing the same thing as your enemy in this war. That's a sign that you are still who you are, that you still care for your honor and that you are still human. It's a good reason to doubt yourself as it gives you a chance to evaluate your actions but you shouldn't take it this far. Never feel guilty for something you have yet to do, as it will only serve to destroy you from within."

"As I said last night, I won't try to dissuade you from your decision. If you wish to carry the burden of going through with it then do so without any regrets. I won't hold it against you if you do erase her memory. In fact, I would be proud of you if you did."

"Wait, what?"

"You see Ranma, you understand the concept of a sacrifice but not completely. A sacrifice doesn't necessarily mean your life in exchange for another. It could also mean your pride or like this situation, your honor. To sacrifice your honor, something that means so much to you, in order to save another would be a great sacrifice on your part. Even if it was a gamble, taking that gamble with your honor on the line is still something I find worthy of great respect. And if other people cannot see that, then they aren't worth my time."

Ranma was speechless. He had nothing to say to the words that Happosai had said. It was obvious that Happosai was praising him but the reason eluded Ranma. Was it because he had actually thought of erasing Satsuki's memory? No, that couldn't be it, right? That was what it sounded like but Ranma couldn't really believe it. But in the very least, there was one thing he was sure of now. Whether or not he'd go through with it, he'd have no regrets.

"Thanks, I needed that."

"You'll also need this then." Happosai held out a small pouch, which most likely held the shampoo that Ranma had requested. "Inside is the shampoo you asked for along with detailed instructions from Cologne. Also, I'd thought about it and asked Cologne for another item. You'll find it inside with instructions as well. I'm sure you could use either one of them or perhaps both just in case."

"Thanks, again."

"You're more than welcome Ranma. Don't forget, I chose you as my heir. It wasn't simply because you were amazing at martial arts. The reasons run deeper than that."

Before Ranma could ask him about that last statement, he was gone. He tried to sense him but he was already outside of Konoha's walls. Glancing up to the sun's position, he realized that it was already midmorning and he had yet to eat anything asides from the apple he ate before beginning his training. He ran back to town with the pouch in his hand and into his apartment.

He prepared some food for himself to last him until lunch while examining the contents of the pouch. Inside were five items. One was the shampoo he had asked for, the instructions for the shampoo, two silver pendants and another letter. He decided to read the letter first.

What was written on the letter certainly got his attention. It was definitely a good thing that Happosai had gotten him what he did. He quickly rushed out of his apartment with the pouch in his pocket, intent on speaking with Naruto. But first, he ran back into his apartment and finished his snack.

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Back in Konoha's special prison, Satsuki was busy with her everyday routine. Everyday she would wake up and go through a rigorous routine that got more rigorous everyday to help her stay strong. Since she was confined to her cell, her exercises was all she could do to pass the time.

That was how Ranma found her, doing vertical push-ups in the middle of her cell. He grinned a bit before entering the cell, the bars of the room sliding down into the ground before rising up once again. "What are you doing here?" Asked Satsuki without pausing her actions. "I suppose you're going to try to talk me out of fighting against Konoha again."

"Not exactly." He waited for her to finish her workout before pulling out the pouch. "I'm here to give you a choice before it's too late. Apparently, Naruto-san's starting to change his mind and might kill you sometime later."

"Smart," she commented but said nothing more than that.

"And you already know where I stand so I'm here to offer you a choice. I have a special shampoo in this pouch which, when used with the right pressure points on your head, can erase all your memories. Naruto-san says that if it's successful then you won't have to die. Of course to be honest, I don't know exactly he plans to do afterwards."

"And the other choice?" Her voice didn't betray the uncaring exterior she put up and by the look in her eyes, it wasn't just a façade.

"The other is something I didn't tell Naruto-san. There are two pendants inside here, both of which are linked to each other. I can place it on you to have a similar effect to this place and I put on the other. Basically I get to control how much of your energy is and isn't suppressed. I can keep it to a minimum so you can't use a single technique or I can give you a portion of the rest for you to use but I can't cut it off completely so I can't kill you, even by accident."

"Is that all?"

"Well, you could simply wait for Naruto-san to kill you but I don't think you'd take that choice."

"What makes you think I won't?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. "I could simply allow him to kill me so I won't have to stay here any longer."

"It's because of your eyes," he said as though it explained everything.

"My… eyes?" she asked, wondering if he'd discovered one of her secrets, one that only she, the Raikage, and the Tsuchikage knew of.

"Right. You have the eyes of a survivor, a fighter, someone who won't go down without a fight. You don't look like the kind to just give up and die. Whether it's fighting for your life or the last piece of food on the table, you'll always fight for what you want."

"So, what's it going to be?"

Satsuki sighed before making her choice.

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Twenty minutes later, Ranma, Satsuki, two ANBU guards and Hinata were standing inside Naruto's office with the Hokage himself. "Well, I'm guessing that it was successful," he said without looking up from his paperwork but being careful not to reveal to the girl that her memory had been erased. "You can go on ahead. I'll take care of things from here."

"Actually, she still has her memory," said Ranma. That statement caused Naruto to immediately stop what he was doing and look up to Ranma with an angry look, not that Ranma paid any attention to it. "I couldn't go through with it I mean, think about it. Those guys in Iwa and Kumo more or less used her for their own purposes. If I erased her memory, even if it was to give her a second chance at a normal life, what makes me any different from them?"

"So why the hell did you ask for the shampoo in the first place?" Naruto asked through gritted teeth, not liking the fact that Ranma had not done as they had agreed on. "And if you didn't erase her memory then what did you do?"

"I wasn't thinking clearly when I asked for the shampoo," he admitted casually with a shrug of his shoulders. "And I did something else."

Reaching into his shirt, he held out a silver pendant. It was a simple looking piece of jewelry, a pair of wings attached to a circle where a gem was attached. Looking towards Satsuki, Naruto saw that she was wearing one as well only the chain was shorter so it couldn't be easily removed. The only difference was that there was a red gem on Ranma's pendant while there wasn't one on Satsuki's. "This allows me to control how much extra Chakra she can use. I can't cut it off completely as it would kill her but I could keep the rest sealed away so she can't use any techniques."

"And what makes _this_ any different from what Iwa and Kumo did?" Asked Naruto, trying his best to control his anger while speaking with the young man in front of him. "You still hold control over her life so it doesn't make any difference whether you erased her memory or not."

"The difference is that I gave her a choice," he stated heatedly, already knowing that he and Naruto were going to get into an argument right there and then. "I asked her what she wanted to do. She could let me erase her memory, put the pendant on her or she could wait for you to kill her if she didn't want either. She made her choice and all I'm doing is sticking to it."

"She's a prisoner of Konoha," he yelled, slamming his hands on his desk and scattering the paperwork all over the office. "She shouldn't have a choice regarding her punishment."

"So it's punishment now? What were you planning to do after I erased her memory? Turn her into your own weapon to use against Iwa and Kumo? Everyone compares me to you. They keep saying that we're alike in a lot of ways, that you were like I am now when you were younger. Don't give me that crap by saying that it's because of the war." Naruto shut his mouth, having been cut off before he could say anything. "You weren't like this during the war against Oto, everybody I've spoken to says so. Obviously, the war has nothing to do with it. From what I hear, Orochimaru was much more difficult to beat compared to what Satsuki can do."

"That's enough," Naruto said sternly but his words went unnoticed as everybody else was focused on what Ranma was saying.

"She can fight evenly against you. So what? She might eventually beat you. Again so what? She might cost you this war. Once again, so what? Is winning this war all you care about now? Is turning your back on your beliefs and morals, just to end this war quickly, worth it? Hell, if you wanna end this war so damn quickly then why not just surrender and be done with it."

"What?" Asked all of them, even Satsuki, who was surprised at that statement.

"If you ask me, war is stupid."

Everyone turned to him wide-eyed at that statement. Four of the six people in the room have met many who had said that statement. In the end, what they said didn't matter as a war always broke out. Three were interested in what Ranma had to say but one of them knew that it was pointless. "Ranma," said Naruto. "Regardless of what you say, a war will always break out. Even if the entire world is ruled under one banner, there is still a chance of a civil war breaking out."

"Like I said, war is stupid. People start wars for what reason? Because they don't like a certain country, a certain race, a certain religion, a certain person, a certain rule or other stupid stuff like that. If someone's got a problem then they should solve it on their own instead of getting others to do it for them."

"Hell, I'm willing to bet that at least half of those guys don't really have a problem with this village in general, they just don't like some of the people here like your dad. They're probably mad that they lost a friend or family member in the last war you guys had. Others are probably trying to prove that they're better ninjas than the ones here. All in all, most of them are probably just in the war for revenge or to prove their strength instead of trying to take over the village or the country."

"If you want revenge or to prove your strength then just challenge the guy you wanna beat up instead of going to war. It's quick and simpler that way."

"That's what we have the Chuunin and Jounin exams for."

"Sure, but do they get to go all out? Do they get to choose their opponents? Do they even get to fight the guy they wanna fight? For example, you're the son of the fourth Hokage and are the sixth Hokage. Those who couldn't beat your old man would settle for trying to kill you for revenge. Problem is, joining either one of those exams doesn't give them the chance to fight you without starting a war. That could have been solved by a simple challenge sent directly to you. Of course, you'd have to accept or they might think they'll need to get your attention through something bigger first."

"And you think that simple duels is enough?"

"Of course. They get the chance to fight the one they want and they don't have to go through the long process of looking for them in a battle since they agreed to meet. Also, there's no problem of any civilians, friends or family getting in the way and no worries about damage if you choose a secluded enough place."

"And you think they'll go along with that?"

"They're human, just like us. Difference is, they're blinded by their anger and rage and driven by thoughts of revenge. There might be some like that here as well. I'm sure there are some people here who lost friends or family during that war and that they're fighting not because of a war, but to avenge their friends and family."

Those words stung Naruto and he knew why. It wasn't only because Ranma was right, it was because he _knew_ that he was right. Naruto wasn't stupid and knew that Ranma's words were true even before he said it. Not only did Ranma's words apply to those who were fighting for him and for the Raikage, Tsuchikage and Kazekage, but it applied to the leaders as well, him included.

The Raikage was the same man who was somewhat responsible for the death of Hizashi Hyuuga, the father of Neji Hyuuga and the brother of Hiashi Hyuuga. It didn't take much to learn that he still wanted the secrets of the Byakugan and a war against Konoha was one way to attain it seeing as his previous attempt failed horribly and ended up with a girl losing her self-confidence and a boy blaming everything on fate.

Iwa, specifically their council and shinobi, held a grudge against Konoha for numerous reasons. One reason for that grudge was their obvious defeat against Konoha's Yellow Flash. Another was the deaths of many friends and family, just as Ranma had stated. There were many other reasons, some significant, some meaningless and some just plain and utterly ridiculous.

"I don't understand this at all, Naruto-san," said Ranma dejectedly, ignoring the two ANBU guards when they turned to face him at the way he addressed their leader. There was a disheartened tone of voice when he continued to speak, making it more obvious how he felt about the subject at hand. "You weren't like this when we met and you certainly weren't like this on our way here. I can understand why you wanted me to try to let go of my code against killing, even just a little bit, but this is going too far."

"Just the other day you asked me, 'Would you have been ready to take responsibility for her actions if she regained enough energy to attack us while we were inside Konoha?'" Ranma paused, giving Naruto time to remember that particular event. "Do you remember what I said?"

Naruto shut his eyes for a moment before opening them again and saying, "'I would have'," He said, repeating Ranma's exact words from memory as everyone listened intently. "'I'd have fought her myself even if I didn't have a chance in hell of winning'."

"'Don't know whether you're brave or foolish'," Said Ranma, replaying the event exactly as he remembered it. "'Probably both'."

"'Better a brave fool, than a child killer'."

Naruto sighed, intertwed his fingers together, propped his elbows up on the table and placed his chin on his hands. He knew that Ranma had him by the neck with all those arguments and could easily end their argument at that moment if he wanted to and he could do nothing but admit that those coming words were the truth. He honestly wanted nothing more than to admit it openly, that he had allowed the knowledge of what had yet to happen to dictate his decisions to prevent those same events from happening again. He wanted to admit that Ranma was right, that it was nothing to do with the war, that it was just as he said, that it was for revenge, revenge for his friends and comrades who have yet to die and for those who have yet to suffer.

He, out of all the people in the room, knew how it was to suffer the feeling of loss. He understood how it felt to be alone, especially in times of need, and the feeling of betrayal. 'Perhaps,' he mused, 'Ranma knows these feelings as well. From what I've been told, he does. Maybe it's because he understands these feelings, and dealt with it in a way different from me, that he's doing this. It seems Happosai and Cologne knew what they were talking about when they said that Ranma could affect people and events in ways that probably nobody else could.'

He paused in his thoughts as that conversation came back to him. 'I wonder who the other person was though? They did say that he was in the time chamber with us at that time. I wonder if Ranma's met him already?'

Knowing that he would have to say something soon, Naruto leaned back into his seat and said, "This isn't exactly what I had in mind," he said in a voice too soft for anyone to hear. "Well," he continued in a louder voice. "It doesn't look like I'm going to change your mind so consider this your first A-class mission. Since you more or less have control of what Satsuki is capable of then you'll be her guardian while she's here in Konoha. I'll tell you the rest of the details later on."

"Let me guess, you want me to try to get her to fight for us or not to fight in the war at all." The look of shock on Naruto's face was the only answer that Ranma needed. "Come on, I bet even Satsuki-chan knew that."

"Stop calling me Satsuki-chan," she growled out, much to Hinata's, the ANBU's, and the Hokage's amusement.

"Something wrong Satsuki-chan? What's wrong with calling you Satsuki-chan, Satsuki-chan? Hey, are you alright Satsuki-chan? Your hand's starting to bleed Satsuki-chan." Indeed, Satsuki's right hand was clenched so tightly that her nails had pierced the skin of her palm and blood began to flow out. "Here, let me see that."

He reached over to her smaller hands and examined the cuts. "It should heal in about a day or so," he said after a while before cleaning the cut and bandaging the wound with some things he pulled out of his sleeve. "That should do it."

"Why didn't you just heal it?" Asked Hinata, curious as to why Ranma chose to bandage the wound instead. "I did teach you how to heal something like that, right?"

"You did. But we shouldn't forget the basics." Seeing the questioning looks that Satsuki and Naruto were giving him, he began explaining. "We won't always have enough Chakra to heal something as small as a cut, especially not after a big fight where we might end up with more than just a few cuts. Before I learned how to heal myself, pops taught me how to bandage my own wounds and the right steps to take for certain kinds of injuries. Maybe as a father he was a failure, but he knew his martial arts and anything that may be needed to go along with it."

"He told me that we should always conserve our energy just in case of an emergency, that we should only resort to regular means whenever possible. The only time I ever used any form of special techniques was either when I couldn't finish the fight with my fists, when I know that I can't end the fight with my fists or when I had no other choice."

"But I thought you didn't like your father?"

"I don't. But when it comes to fighting and martial arts, he knows what he's talking about."

Naruto only shook his head. 'Sometimes I don't understand this kid,' he thought as he returned to his paperwork. "Well, if there isn't anything else then you can go. I've got a lot of paperwork to finish." Hinata spied an amused look on Ranma's face before he left, Satsuki obediently following behind him.

Once Ranma deemed that they were far enough for Naruto not to hear, he began laughing out loud. This caused Satsuki to look at him strangely until Satsuki asked the question on her mind. "What do you find so funny? That I'm your prisoner?"

"No, no, it's not that," he managed to speak out amidst his laughter. The trio behind him waited for him to calm down before he could explain. "I'm just wondering how long it'll take him to figure our that there's an easy way to finish all that paperwork without having to do it himself."

"If you didn't know," said Satsuki. "A Kage cannot just let other people do his job as that replacement might make an irreversible mistake or might make a different decision from the Kage."

"I never said he had to get somebody else," he said slyly. "I just can't believe that a guy who can create hundreds of Shadow Clones can't figure out how take on that much paperwork." Satsuki caught the meaning behind that statement and couldn't help but crack a small smile, a smile that was seen by Ranma. "Heh, I knew you weren't that coldhearted."

"I don't know what you're talking about," she shot back and turned her head away but she knew that she couldn't deny it. 'He's definitely more perceptive than he lets on.'

As they walked along the streets of Konoha, Ranma was talking about random things, hoping to find something she was interested in before they got back to his apartment. They were stopped, however, by two people who saw Ranma walking with her. "Ranma?"

Turning his head to face behind him, he caught sight of the pink-haired Sakura and her blonde friend, Ino. "Oh hey Sakura-san, Ino-san, what's up?"

"We're just wondering who your new friend is Ranma."

"Oh, this is Satsuki-chan."

"Satsuki?" Both women asked, having heard the name from when Ranma had told them about his concerns.

"What did Naruto decide to do then?" Asked Sakura. "Is he actually letting her go? I mean, she did give him some trouble during their fight after all."

"Well, there is one catch. See that pendant?" He pointed to the one around Satsuki's next, to which both women nodded. "That pendant suppresses her energy so she can't use any techniques. I'd bet that either of you two could take her on the way she is now so she won't be able to escape."

"But what if she breaks the chain? She could also take it off you know."

"Well, the letter that the old ghoul sent me said that the chain is unbreakable. I tried testing it but I couldn't break it. She also said that whoever locks it in place leaves an imprint and that the owner of the imprint acts as the key. Although I don't understand what that meant."

Both Ino and Sakura sighed. Their experiences with Ranma pointed out that he's much smarter than they give him credit for. Often times they wondered whether he was pretending to be stupid or not just for the sake of appearances. This was just another one of those times. "It means that only the person who puts it on can take it off again," explained Ino. "Really Ranma, you really should pick up a dictionary some time."

"What's lifting a dictionary gonna help me with?"

"I give up," she said exasperatedly, throwing her hands up in the air while Sakura and Satsuki sweatdropped at his statement. "That's the last time I try to understand you."

Ranma just shrugged as he kept on walking towards his next destination, Sakura and Ino walking along with the pair. "So what are you going to do now? Where are you taking her?"

"Well, since I'm more or less the only person who has any control over her, Naruto-san made me her temporary guardian." Just then, Ranma got an idea. "Hey, could you two do me a favor?"

Both women looked at each other for a moment before Sakura said, "What kind of favor?"

"Well, I'm sure that Satsuki-chan here doesn't have any other clothes with her and I certainly don't have any clothes that would fit her. So would it be alright if you two took her shopping one time?"

Before either of them could answer, Satsuki cut into the conversation. "If you don't mind, I can do my own shopping."

Both Sakura and Ino turned to Ranma for an answer, an answer that came in the form of a shrug. "Well, if you want to then go ahead. I don't mind."

While the two Jounin nodded and accepted the answer, Satsuki couldn't help but be surprised by how much trust Ranma appeared to be giving her. The surprised look on her face disappeared and was immediately replaced by one of impassiveness. "You're actually letting me go?"

"Well, yeah," he replied as though it was very obvious. "You haven't really shown me a reason not to trust you yet."

"What are you talking about? If it weren't for this pendant then you'd be dead now."

"Probably but that doesn't mean I can't trust you. You really haven't done anything to show that you can't be trusted. Trusting you to be able to do something on your own is different from trusting you with my life. I know you'd try to kill me the moment you get the chance but that doesn't mean I can't trust you do go clothes shopping by yourself."

"And what makes you think that I won't try to escape?"

"Would you be able to leave?" He asked. "Don't forget, right now you can't use your Chakra so it'll be hard to leave without being spotted. It'll also be hard to fight off someone who recognizes you. Even if you did manage to leave, will you be able to get far without Chakra?"

"I'm not saying you shouldn't leave if you don't want to stay, I'm just saying that you're welcome to try to leave. I'm sure that Naruto-san is having you watched closely by others as well. I mean, those two guards from earlier have been following us since we left the office so if you do try to leave, you've got your work cut out for you."

Shutting her eyes in concentration, Satsuki immediately realized that Ranma was right. She frowned upon realizing that escape would be nearly impossible with two ANBU guards trailing her everywhere she went. And just as Ranma had said, even if she managed to leave Konoha there was still the problem of being hunted by hunter-nins. And with clans such as the Hyuuga, the Inuzuka and the Aburame clans, hunting someone with no access to Chakra would be too easy.

"So you're only letting me go off by myself since I can't leave?"

"No, it's because it's what you want. Of course, just because I'm letting you do something your way doesn't mean I'll let you have your way all the time. After all, wouldn't want you to grow up being a spoiled brat now would we?"

"I suppose not," she sighed out in reply.

"You know," began Sakura, having listened to the conversation with great interest. "When you two are like that it makes you look like a father and a daughter"

"Really?" Both Ranma and Satsuki asked at the same time. They looked at each other before shrugging and frowning respectively.

"So where are you going? Training again?"

"Nah, I'm gonna show Satsuki-chan where I'm staying. After that, I'm going back to training. I'm close to breaking the barrier so I can't give up now."

"Well, just don't overdo it. You do have a tendency to work until morning and not even sleep that night."

"Hey come on, it's not my fault I lose track of time."

"We know. But still, going for three days of nearly non-stop training is just plain ridiculous," said Ino, surprising Satsuki at the revelation of that fact. "Not even Naruto used to train like that. And besides, you did it not once but five times ever since you've arrived in Konoha about a month ago."

"It doesn't really matter to me I mean, pops used to keep me up all night with his snoring or his stupid training methods so I'm used to going for several days without sleep. Well, this is our stop."

Waving to Ino and Sakura as they continued walking down the street, Ranma led Satsuki into the apartment building and up to the third floor. Pulling out a key from his pocket, he unlocked the door and ushered Satsuki in while he shut the door and locked it. "You live here?" Asked Satsuki, looking around the somewhat small apartment. There was nothing really special about it and the first thing she noticed was that there was only one bedroom with one bed. "I'd expected something much bigger considering your position."

"My… position?"

"That's right. For the Hokage to trust you with something as important as watching over me and being responsible for my capture and treatment, you must have a high position. So why do you choose to live in this place?"

"Eh? I'm not really that special you know," he replied with a straight face. "If you wanna know, I'm still just a Genin."

"Just… a Genin?" that statement had thrown her for a loop as she tried to come to terms at the fact that someone as powerful as Ranma was just a Genin. "How? I assumed you were somewhere along the lines of a Jounin or possibly within the ANBU. How could someone as powerful as you be just a Genin?"

"How? Well, I suppose it's because I became a ninja of Konoha only recently," he replied sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head and tugging on the base of his pigtail. "Anyway, I'll explain it all some other time. There's food in the fridge, the bedroom's over there and the bathroom's through a door in the bedroom. Just make yourself at home and I'll see you later."

"And where are you going?"

"Training. Where else?" He tossed her the key to the apartment before opening the window. "Take care." Without another word, he leapt out the window and ran towards the training grounds.

Looking down at the key in her hands and then looking around the room, Satsuki sighed. "I wonder if I should have just let him erase my memory." She just shook her head, knowing that she would never have picked that choice. "Well, no use regretting my decision now. I might as well get settled in for now."

_END CHAPTER_

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	19. Arc 2 Chapter 9

By Overlord of Order and Overlord of Chaos

Terms of Engagement

By Overlord of Order and Overlord of Chaos

**SUMMARY: What if many of the on-goings involving Genma and Nodoka was all a hoax? What if most of what they've said was a lie? What reason could they have to lie to so many people? What does it have to do with Ranma's future?**

**We're sorry it took us a long time to update. There's no guarantee that we'll be updating faster but we'll try our best. Anyway, the next semester for this school year starts this June 13 so we might be updating less often. But don't worry, we haven't given up on this story. **

_Arc 2: Ninja Training_

_Chapter 9: War 101_

It was a bright early morning in Konoha, the sun barely visible across the horizon. There were those who were just getting out of their beds, some were still slumbering the day away while others were already up and about, going about their business. One of those people in particular was a certain auburn haired girl.

Already, she was wide awake and going through her normal morning routine which consisted of push-ups, sit-ups, chin-ups and other forms of exercise that she could do within the small apartment. She assumed that she was still recovering from the battle seeing as she was easily tired out before doing half of her normal exercise routine. She would have gone out but she wasn't familiar with Konoha and she didn't want to risk being attacked by the other Konoha shinobi who don't know of her predicament. Even if they did, they might still attack her out of spite.

There was a knock on the door leading to her room, technically Ranma's room though, and a voice that followed soon after. "I'm heading to the training grounds. You wanna come with me?"

Satsuki thought about it for a while. She was just wondering whether she should ask Ranma if he could show her the way to the training grounds but decided not to. However, she had been confined to a prison for three days and she didn't want to have to spent another day indoors now that she had been released, even if she was under strict conditions.

"I might as well," she replied, getting off the floor and walking towards the door. Opening it, she saw Ranma holding a white training gi that looked to be about her size. "What is that?"

"Clothes," he replied.

"I know it's clothes, but what for?"

"For you," he answered. "I mean, you've been wearing those clothes since the fight three days ago. I doubt you'd want to go around for so long wearing those same clothes."

Looking down at herself, Satsuki realized that Ranma was right. Her dirt-stained clothes were the very same clothes she wore to the battle against Konoha. She crinkled her nose in disgust when she realized that little fact. "I suppose it's the best for now," she conceded, taking the offered pieces of clothing and was surprised when one particular article of clothing she did not expect fell out of the pile. Picking it up she asked, "Why are these here?"

"You wanna go around without any underwear?"

"I mean, why do you have them?"

"Because they're mine."

"… what?" she deadpanned, certainly not expecting that answer from Ranma. "If you're going to lie, then at least make it believable."

She returned to her room, missing the amused look on Ranma's face after hearing her statement. Moments later she returned, dressed in the white gi and underwear that Ranma had given her. With a quick smile, Ranma opened the front door and shut it when Satsuki came out.

Together, they left the apartment building and began to walk through the village. Satsuki took this chance to look around the village, having not been in the mood to examine the village from within the previous day. The village itself was very much like Kumo and Iwa so it wasn't that interesting. It was the shinobi, however, that caught her attention or rather, how they acted.

Unlike in Iwa or Kumo, where the ninjas are often found training heavily even outside of war time due to the strict Kage ruling over them, she spotted many shinobi of different ranks relaxing in their own way. She could see some walking into bars, speaking casually with their friends or even just walking around pointlessly.

She scowled at this, 'What's wrong with them?' She thought when she saw more of the Konoha shinobi walking around so casually. 'We're in a war and this is all they think about? Don't they even care what happens to them? Instead of doing as they please they should be training and preparing for the next battle.'

"What's wrong?" Asked Ranma when he saw the scowl on his young companion's face.

"What's wrong?" She asked, repeating what Ranma had just asked. "What's wrong you ask? What's wrong is that these shinobi don't seem to understand what's going on around them." She tried her best to keep her voice low but her tone was still harsh. "They're in the middle of a war with Iwa and Kumo and what are they doing? They're lounging around when they should be training to become stronger. It's shinobi like them that give others a bad name. This is precisely why Konoha will lose this war even if I don't help Iwa or Kumo. Not even Uzumaki is immortal."

Looking around and spotting the various activities that the shinobi were partaking in, Ranma could help but agree. "I see your point," he conceded but then said, "But then again, it's good to just kick back and relax once in a while. Even I don't train everyday of my life. Besides, personally I think that with an occupation of being a ninja, you'd probably be lucky to live past your thirtieth birthday, maybe even the twentieth. So if you ask me I'd say you should take the time to enjoy life while you still can. Now that they're involved in a war you never know when you'll get killed so now would probably be a good time to enjoy yourself."

"I wouldn't know. I've been training everyday since Tsuchikage-sama and Raikage-sama took me in. Shinobi are nothing but tools to be used. Instead of lounging around doing pointless things we should make sure that we are prepared for a fight, especially now that there is a war. It seems to me that these shinobi know nothing about the life of a shinobi."

"Oh, that's where you're wrong," said Ranma, watching as Satsuki grew curious with that statement, as though asking him to clarify his words. "See that guy over there?" He asked, pointing to a rather large shinobi that just walked into a restaurant.

"From what I remember, that man would be Chouji Akimichi. What about him?"

"If you fought him on the battlefield, what weaknesses would you have taken advantage of?"

"His lack of speed for one," she said, trying to remember the information she had been given about Konoha and Suna's more dangerous shinobi. "As an Akimichi he is normally constantly eating. He is also easily angered when you call him fat. The best strategy would be to isolate him from his two companions, his friend, Shikamaru Nara and his wife, Ino Yamanaka. Provoking him into a blind rage might also prove useful. "

"Well, looks like your information is wrong then. Whoever gave it to you mustn't have seen him fight yet." The glare he received was enough to freeze the sun but apparently not enough to faze him. "He's faster than probably any of you give him credit for. I'd know since I've fought with him a few times. He's definitely fast enough to keep up with me when I don't take off my weights. I've fought against him, Shikamaru-san and Ino-san all at the same time so I know how good he is when he's with them and when he doesn't have them around."

"He's much stronger than you give him credit for. I've actually called him fat right in front of his face and he just laughed it off so obviously your info is old. You should try doing what I do sometime."

"And what's that?"

"Ignore what everybody else says and just fight the guy. A lot of times a rumor about how strong or how cowardly someone is goes around and you know how rumors are, they usually end up exaggerated in the end. You might end up underestimating your opponent or overestimating him. It's good to have some information about your enemy but the best way to get information on someone is straight from the source, such as when you're fighting him, instead of from somebody else. That way, you can be sure of how strong he is."

"But still, that doesn't disprove my point."

"You're right. But think about it, do you think working hard is all that matters in order to become strong?"

"Of course. Someone who is too lazy to train wouldn't become strong."

"Wrong. Kakashi-sensei doesn't train that hard and he's stronger than he used to be."

"That's because he has the Uchiha clan's bloodline, the Sharingan."

"So? What does having an eye that can copy and analyze techniques have anything to do with getting stronger? Sure you can copy techniques but what's the point if that's all you can do. You can't just copy something and expect yourself to master it."

"Then explain to me how he became strong if your claims that he doesn't train hard is true."

"It's because he's smart."

"Smart?"

"That's right. Working smart can be an equivalent of working hard at some times. That's what Kakashi-sensei does when he's training."

"What are you talking about?"

"Do you know why the Shadow Clone Technique is considered a forbidden technique?"

"It's because of the large amount of chakra needed to perform it. Even those in Iwa and Kumo know that."

"True, but that's not the only reason. What happens when a clone is dispelled?" Not letting Satsuki answer, he said, "Nothing, that's what. But when a Shadow Clone is dispelled or killed, any knowledge that it has is transferred to the user. I could create a shadow clone and send it to Iwa to gather information while I stay here in Konoha. When it gets killed or runs out of Chakra, anything it learned will be transferred to me."

"So? That still doesn't explain it."

"Create a hundred clones and send them off to different places. Say they run out of Chakra after exactly seventy-two hours, that's three days of memories per clone. Three days multiplied by a hundred is what? Three hundred days. It's two months short of living an entire year. Now imagine, having three hundred days of memories suddenly crammed into your head in that one second it takes for all the clones to dispel, what do you get? A major headache, that's what."

"So?"

"You don't get it do you? It's more than just a major headache. The human mind isn't meant to handle that much information in a second. It's why even Naruto-san is careful not to let too many clones die in a fight especially when they're spread out. A hundred clones with more or less the same memories won't be a problem but a hundred clones with too many different memories is dangerous. In the past, people have gone crazy or turned into a vegetable when they're clones were all dispelled within a short amount of time."

"I know what you're thinking, what does this have to do with Kakashi-sensei's training. Well, it has everything to do with it. Create ten clones and have them practice one technique only. Each time they use it is equivalent to you using it ten times. Another use makes it a total count of twenty. And while they're training, he can go around and talk with his friends or whatever he wants to do."

He glanced down at Satsuki as they walked, gauging her reaction to what he just said. "Do you get my point now?" he asked after some time. "Even Naruto-san trains that way when he's too busy. I'm sure if we visit some of the training grounds right now we'll see a lot of Shadow Clones of the ninjas you just saw."

"It doesn't matter either way. Iwa and Kumo will win. Even though the shinobi of Konoha train this hard, it is nothing more than experience. Strengthening the body is just as important and if they cannot see that then they will lose either way."

Ranma was about to tell her that many of Konoha's shinobi used weight seals, just like he did, but decided to keep that a secret. He was certain that Naruto would kill him for telling her about the Shadow Clones but it's not like he actually cared. Minutes later they arrived at the training grounds just as Kakashi appeared using the Body Flicker Technique.

"Good you're here," he said upon seeing Ranma. He then spotted Satsuki and recognition flashed across his one visible eye. Satsuki was prepared to defend herself if he decided to attack but instead, his lone visible eye curved upwards in an inverted U to indicate a smile before turning back to Ranma. "So, are you ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be."

"Good. You're Chakra control's gotten much better over the past few days so I'm going to clear you on this after you pass a small test."

"A… test?"

"Right. Today, we're going to fight on the river," he replied lazily as he walked away, leading Ranma and Satsuki to the nearby river. "Use whatever means necessary to defeat me without stepping foot outside the river or sinking. Understand?"

"So I can take off all my weights?"

"I'm strong Ranma, not stupid. So no, you can't take off your weights."

They arrived at a river moments later and without a word, both Kakashi and Ranma leapt onto the water and began their fight. Satsuki watched intently, analyzing the combat style of both fighters for future reference. Just before the fight began, Kakashi pulled up his headband, revealing his red Sharingan eye. Both fighters rushed towards each other, beginning the battle with plain taijutsu.

As far as she could see, Kakashi was just as good as the reports state. With his Sharingan eye uncovered and his wide range of techniques he was easily Kage level for the short moment that he could maintain the use of his acquired bloodline much like her when using the bloodline she obtained from the Mutsumi.

Ranma, however, was another matter. His taijutsu style was unlike any she had ever encountered. She had been taught several taijutsu styles, not for her to use but so that she would be able to anticipate her opponents. She could use those styles but unlike the main style she practices, she wasn't as proficient in the others.

To Satsuki, Ranma's style seemed to be an almost perfect style, an amazing mix of offense and defense. She had seen styles that focused on offense, defensive styles, styles that used your opponent's momentum and strength against them and styles that focused on grappling.

Satsuki could not recognize the style but it was amazing combination of almost every aspect of fighting. Even when in the air, Ranma was agile and dexterous, moving with grace to avoid attacks in mid-air that would have been nearly impossible for most shinobi, quite possibly all. Even those that others could have avoided, the use of Replacement would have been needed.

The fight started to get interesting when they both began to form handseals. Satsuki's eyes could easily keep with their speed so she could follow the forming of handseals. The sequence was unlike any that she had ever seen before. She prepared to move away when she realized that they had surpassed forming a hundred seals and something like that meant that it would be a powerful technique.

Kakashi, on the other hand, was confused. He was using the Sharingan to copy the seals that Ranma was forming. He trained with Ranma in ninjutsu so he knew most of Ranma's techniques but this sequence was a strange one. By now they had surpassed two hundred seals and Ranma was still going, a look of concentration on his face as he continued forming them. He narrowed his eyes at this, trying to remember if he had ever heard or read of any technique that required more than two hundred - no, three hundred seals.

Like Kakashi, Satsuki was on the edge when she realized that Ranma had formed three hundred handseals and was still going. No technique she knew required that many handseals. The handseals were used to regulate the flow of Chakra, an additional form of Chakra Control. More handseals meant that the technique required more Chakra Control. Techniques that covered a large area usually had something close to a hundred handseals. 'Three – four hundred handseals and he isn't stopping yet. Does he plan to wipe out this entire area? No, something is wrong here. But what?'

Kakashi felt the same way as Satsuki in that regard, there was definitely something wrong with that situation. Kakashi looked at Ranma intently, examining every detail of the young man in front of him. Just before Ranma reached five hundred handseal, Kakashi realized what was wrong. 'He isn't gathering any Chakra at all,' he thought in shock. 'But why? Why form handseals when you keep your Chakra from building up? Is he… Oh I see. Sneaky little bastard.'

Ranma smirked when he noticed that Kakashi stopped copying his movements. Continuing with his handseals, he finally stopped after a few more and called out the attack, "Lightning Release: Lightning Shot." Ranma leapt up into the air and pointed his palm downwards, catching Kakashi's attention the moment he jumped.

A second later, a bolt of lightning shot towards Kakashi, who jumped up into the air to avoid it. When he landed he saw Ranma standing on top of the water in front of him with a wide grin on his face. "That was certainly something I didn't expect," he said lazily. "To make me think you were going to use a technique and taking advantage of the Sharingan's ability to copy movements, you tried to wear me out as much as you could through the Sharingan. Too bad though, you should have used a stronger technique than that."

Ranma's grin just widened when he pointed up to the sky. Raising an eyebrow at this, Kakashi looked up nonetheless, receiving a foot in the face from another Ranma just as he returned to earth. Kakashi fell onto his back and nearly sank into the water but maintained his focus as Ranma jumped back and landed on the water's surface right next to the clone just before it turned into water.

Kakashi stood back up with an annoyed look in his eyes and a black footprint on his face courtesy of Ranma's slipper. Forming handseals quickly, he breathed in and blew out a large amount of fist-sized fireballs in Ranma's direction. Satsuki expected Ranma to dodge or use a water technique. She was very surprised, as was Kakashi, when he pulled his fist back and struck the fireballs with a palm strike, taking out a the fireball he had struck. He did it again, hitting another fireball that would have hit him. He kept on going, blasting through every fireball that could or would have hit him.

Just as he took out the last fireball that would have hit him, he saw Kakashi breathe in once more and let out a larger fireball, one as wide as Ranma. Quickly getting into the right mindset, Ranma breathed in deeply and held his cupped hands at his side. Thrusting it forward, a ball of white energy flew out of his hands and met with the fireball.

Instead of exploding on contact, the white ball blasted through the fireball, making it dissipate while the ball continued to fly towards Kakashi. Not wanting to find out just how much that would hurt, Kakashi leapt out of the way. The white ball shot past him and began to shrink. When it was only several inches wide it struck a tree, causing it to explode and take most of the tree with it.

All three sets of eyes widened at that. None of them had expected such a powerful result from something so small. Sasuki's thoughts revolved around the fact that Ranma had not made any handseals for that particular attack. Ranma shook himself out of his shock and charged at Kakashi. The water barely rippled under his steps and not a single sound was heard. Kakashi suddenly spun around with a backhand only for Ranma to slide beneath the arm and between Kakashi's spread legs. Just as he was passing through, Ranma extended his arms sideways and literally swept Kakashi of his feet.

Just before Kakashi fell into the river, he turned into water as several kunai flew towards Ranma. Ranma raised his arms, blocked the kunai with his armguards before reaching into his pocket and pulling something out. He raised it up into the air and held a kunai against the object in his other hand. Satsuki's jaw went slack when she saw what it was. A book. An orange book.

Kakashi's eyes widened and his jaw went slack as well when he saw that orange book. He quickly checked his pockets then double-checked it and triple-checked it only to find that _it _was missing. He slowly turned his head towards Ranma, who was grinning as he held the kunai dangerously close to the book.

Ranma smirked when he saw this and took the opportunity to from handseals. "Wind Release: Great Cutting Whirlwind."

That got Kakashi's attention as he turned around just to be hit by Ranma's technique from behind. His body flew back several meters and fell into the river with several cuts on his clothes and a few on his body. When he came up gasping for air and his headband back into place covering his Sharingan eye, he glared at Ranma and the clone, who was holding the book and the kunai. "Put. Down. My. Book," he demanded, pronouncing each word sternly.

"Hehe, you should listen to yourself more often sensei" said Ranma, opening the book to show that it had been nothing more than an ordinary story book for kids. He pulled off the fake orange covering and tossed it towards Kakashi. "Look underneath the underneath, right?" When he noticed that Kakashi was still glaring at him he pointed over to a tree stump on the shore where another clone, presumable a water clone, was sitting, holding the book in its hands. "The real one's over there."

The clone holding the book had to blink numerous times and to count it's fingers when the book suddenly disappeared just to make sure that none of it's fingers had been taken by mistake. Before it could finish counting, a kunai cut through its neck, causing it to turn back to water. "That's what will happen to you next time you pull a trick like that."

Suddenly, eight Kakashis surrounded Ranma in a circle with four more on the outside. "This, is payback for doing it now though." All eight began to form handseals while the other four leapt up into the air, forming handseals as well.

Ranma looked around him and realized with great sadness that there was only one way out. "Better than getting killed though, that's for sure." Allowing his focus on his Chakra to disappear, he immediately fell into the river. Once he did so, the Kakashi clones stopped forming handseals and disappeared while the real Kakashi's eye had arched upwards once again.

Moments later a very wet, very annoyed and very female Ranma-chan emerged from the water, startling Satsuki with her sudden appearance. "That was a dirty trick Kakashi-sensei," she said, walking over to dry land and glaring at her instructor's back.

"And what you did wasn't?" he asked, opening the book and beginning to read once again, letting out a perverted giggle seconds later. "But I have to say though, your Chakra Control is much better now compared to before. I can't really teach you much in terms of Chakra Control now so this will be our last session. Naruto wanted me to remind you to go see him later on now that you're clear on Chakra Control."

"Any idea what he wants?" She asked, squeezing the water out of her hair and her clothes.

"No idea. You'll just have to find out for yourself. Anyway, you can go on ahead now. Just don't forget to meet me later for your ninjutsu lessons."

"I won't." Turning to her companion she said, "Come on Satsuki-chan, let's go get something to eat."

Satsuki didn't say anything but followed Ranma-chan nonetheless. Once they got far enough from Kakashi, Satsuki asked, "How? How is it that you are now female?"

"This? It's a condition I've had since I was sixteen. I turn into a girl with cold water and back to a guy with hot water and before you ask, I was born a guy."

"Is that some kind of bloodline ability? If it is, it's useless."

"No, it's not a bloodline ability, although that's what I tell other people. I only know one other person who turns into a girl like me but there are others with slightly different conditions. Pops turns into a panda, Ryoga turns into a pig, Mousse turns into a duck and Shampoo turns into a c-c-cat."

"Are all these people your family?"

"No, it's like I said, it's a condition I've had since I was sixteen. That was also around the same time that pops got his. Anyway, let's stop talking about this. Let's just get something to eat then I can get back to training."

Walking into the first restaurant Ranma-chan saw, the pair sat down in a booth and looked through the menu that was already on the table. Just as they were about to order, a trio entered the restaurant and saw the pair. "Ranma?"

Turning around, Ranma-chan saw the faces of Misami, Fujitaka and Kaname. "Hey guys, it's been a long time. Wanna join us?"

The trio nodded as Ranma-chan moved to the other side of the booth to sit beside Satsuki while the trio took her place. "So what have you been up to lately?" Asked Fujitaka. "We haven't really seen you around since that mission to Suna."

"Well, I've been busy with training lately," she replied. "Kakashi-sensei's training got harder after the mission, so did Kurenai sensei's genjutsu training. Training with Sakura-san and Hinata-san are harder since I've been practicing healing with Chakra and my sessions with Ino-san replaced my training with Neji-san and Kiba-san."

"Sessions? You mean…" The trio blushed at the implications of Ranma-chan's statement.

Ranma-chan caught their blush and immediately realized what they were thinking of. "No, not that kind of session. She's just trying to help me get over my fear. It'd be bad if something like what happened in that town happened in the middle of a battle."

"Hey look, those cats are back," said Misami, pointing behind Ranma-chan.

"Nice try Misami," she chided playfully. "I can sense if there's on nearby so something like that won't work on me."

"Wait," interrupted Satsuki. "You mean to say that you're afraid of cats?"

"Hey, who're you?" Asked Kaname, looking Satsuki over. "I don't remember seeing you around here before."

"Oh yeah, I forgot you haven't met her yet. Guys, this is Satsuki-chan. Satsuki-chan, meet Misami, Fujitaka and Kaname." Each of the three nodded to Satsuki, who just scowled and turned to Ranma-chan, telling her not to call her that. "Whatever you say Satsuki-chan, but we both know that you like being called that."

Satsuki just growled and turned away from Ranma-chan. "Are you new here?" Asked Kaname. "I know just about everyone our age and younger but I've never seen you before."

Not really caring about what they might think, Satsuki simply told them the truth. "I'm a prisoner here," she deadpanned. "The Hokage assigned Ranma-san to watch over me for the time being."

The trio stared at her while Ranma-chan was telling the waitress her small, for her, breakfast order. Once she was done, she turned back to the wide-eyed faces of her former Genin teammates. "Ranma, is what she said true?" They all asked in unison.

"About what? Being a prisoner?" Satsuki smirked inwardly. Whether she denies it or not, she would have to explain a lot. Maybe she couldn't escape, but she could definitely enjoy playing around with them. "Yeah, it's true," she replied with a smile, much to Satsuki's surprise. "My first solo A-rank mission actually."

The trio continued to stare at Ranma-chan until they suddenly started laughing. "I get it," barked out Fujitaka. "This is some kind of joke, right? Either that or you two are playing some kind of game just like we used to."

"I remember when we were like that," commented Kaname in between laughs. "Before we entered the academy we would pretend to be ninjas. Well at least we did. I bet Misami here was already being trained by her family."

"So? What's wrong with that?"

"Well anyway," said Fujitaka, getting in between the two before it escalated into a fight. "You don't have to stop pretending if you don't want to. Let's just order so we can meet Kurenai-sensei for our missions later on."

Satsuki couldn't believe it. They actually thought that she and Ranma-chan are playing a game of pretend and were still pretending. "You don't get it do you?" She asked them in a serious tone. "We're not pretending. The pendant I'm wearing actually allows him… her, to control my Chakra output so I can't do any techniques."

"Sure she is," Misami replied sarcastically. "And you're actually a Kage level Iwa-nin who was captured during the battle a few days back."

Four of the five people at the table just laughed at that, the trio of Genin because of how crazy it sounded and Ranma because of how right they were and they didn't even realize it. Satsuki resisted the urge to facefault, repeating the words, "They're just Genin," all over in her head like a mantra.

The other four placed their order when the waitress came back with Ranma-chan's drink. "Anyway, what's been going on with you three?" Asked Ranma-chan, taking a sip from her drink. "Gone on any interesting missions lately?"

"Not since that mission to Suna," replied Misami. "By the way, I'm still going to get you back for turning me into a boy."

"Like you could even touch me," she replied confidently. "Last time we fought I didn't even have to touch you to wear you out. You seemed to be doing a good job at doing it to yourself."

"Well if you stopped running around and actually fought me seriously then maybe I wouldn't wear myself out."

"If I did that then the fight would be over in less than three second. Where would the fun in that be?" She asked, sticking her tongue out at Misami.

Fujitaka just groaned in response to their verbal battle. "I swear Ranma, for a seventeen year old you sure do act like a kid a lot."

"Does it really matter how I act? Naruto-san is what, forty years old, and he still acts like a kid from time to time. Although sometimes he does act like an old man."

"Ranma, are you sure you wanna be talking about him like that? I mean, he is the Hokage after all."

"So? What's he gonna do if he finds out? I'm not an official ninja of Konoha and I'm not a citizen of Konoha for that matter." That little revelation caused Satsuki to turn to Ranma-chan, not having known that piece of information. "I'm just someone who he asked to come to Konoha and help him with the war. I could leave at anytime if I wanted to."

"Sure he'd probably kill me for that but the point is that it's my life. I do what I want, when I want. Besides, being ninjas you guys should know this by now. You should live your life to the fullest and never regret anything. Even if you regret something you did, you should just forget about it. You guys are in a dangerous business so you should do everything you want to do before something bad happens."

"But won't that mean that we won't have any more goals in the end?"

"Not necessarily. If you set one important goal to reach for later, then you'll always have something to fight for, a reason to live. Take Naruto-san for example. His long-term goal was to become the Hokage and he couldn't do that if he died. Now that he is Hokage, his goal is to protect his family, his friends and his village and he definitely can't do that if he dies in a fight. Whenever you get into a bad situation, the best way to get out alive is to find a reason to live."

"That makes sense," said Kaname, nodding along with her two teammates. "What about you Ranma? What's your goal?"

"Mine?" She looked from Kaname to Fujitaka to Misami and even saw Satsuki listening intently. "Well, I suppose my goal would be to become the best martial artist there is."

"Martial artist? Why not just the best ninja?" Asked Misami.

"Because I'm not a ninja, that's why," she replied. "A martial artist only uses his skills for self-defense or the defense of another and never to start a fight. Also, I'd never use my skills to kill unless it's a last resort. And before you ask, yes, I've killed before."

"Who was it?"

"A guy named Saffron," she replied in a sad tone. "We got into a fight and nearly he killed Akane."

"Akane?"

"My fiancée," she paused before saying, "Or maybe I should say ex-fiancée."

"What happened? Did she break up with you or something because she nearly got killed?"

"Nah, it was an arranged marriage anyway. We nearly got married after that day but something happened and the wedding ended with a blast, literally." She sighed. "That was about a year ago though. After that, our relationship just kept getting worse and worse until several weeks ago when mom and pops announced that the engagement was off, all of them."

"All of what?"

"The engagements."

"Engagements? As in, more than one?"

"Yup," Ranma-chan replied as though that kind of question was normal, which really was normal for her. "Last time I counted, pops had engaged me to twenty-nine women and eight guys."

"Eight guys?"

"Hey, I turn into a girl with cold water. Besides, pops is a greedy good-for-nothing bastard. He engaged me to all those people for money, food or martial arts styles and techniques. The most stupid deal was probably that one with that Daikoku guy."

"Why's that?"

"Pops sold me for a bowl of rice, two pickles and a fish."

All four of the listeners were literally floored at that statement. Even Satsuki, who never really knew her parents, knew that that wasn't something that a parent would do, even if her father was the infamous Orochimaru. The four of them got back to their seats just as their orders arrived.

They all began eating, save for Satsuki who was busy staring at the human food disposal. "You've never seen him eat, have you?" Asked Fujitaka, who noticed that Satsuki was staring at Ranma-chan. "He eats just like an Akimichi. I've heard there's a betting pool going around on whether he could out-eat an Akimichi or not."

"He nearly did too." Looking to the side of the booth, Ranma-chan smiled when she saw Ino standing there with a rather large man with brown hair wearing red clothing along with some pieces of armor with the character for 'food' on the chest plate. "The only other person who came close to out-eating me was Naruto."

"Then again Chouji-kun, that's if it's ramen," said Ino. "But either way, it looks like nobody can out-eat an Akimichi."

"You're an Akimichi, Ino-san" Pointed out Ranma-chan. "So does that mean that if I out-eat you then I'm the first to out-eat an Akimichi?"

"For the last time Ranma, I'm only an Akimichi because of marriage," said Ino, getting annoyed at how Ranma-chan liked to point that out almost every time they saw each and the topic of food came around. "That doesn't mean that I can eat like one."

"But you're still an Akimichi."

"IT DOESN'T MEAN I EAT LIKE ONE!"

Ino wanted nothing more than to start ripping Ranma-chan apart piece by piece just to see what it was that made her so damn annoying. Chouji, on the other hand, was amused by the event. It was a rare event because being Konoha's head interrogator, and a Yamanaka at that, Ino knew the workings of the human mind, literally, and yet here was Ranma-chan, a newcomer to Konoha. Only a month or so into her stay and she already knew how to push the buttons of most of the shinobi she was normally around. Even the ever stoic Shino, who sometimes sparred with Ranma-chan, was _obviously_ annoyed at Ranma-chan and he made no effort at concealing it.

The few people he had yet to annoy among their group was Chouji, who could easily get along with Ranma-chan and her sense of humor, Shikamaru, who commented that it was too troublesome to be annoyed, and Sakura and Hinata, both of whom got along well with Ranma-chan. Although Naruto often joined Ranma-chan in annoying the others, they would then turn against each other and see who could annoy the hell out of the other first. For some reason, Ranma-chan was still the most annoying one of the two of them.

"Whatever you say," Ranma-chan replied with an obviously non-believing look on her face. "But we both know you like to eat like one when nobody's around. Come on, we can keep a secret, right guys?"

"Right," replied the three genin, quickly catching on to Ranma-chan's game. Even Misami couldn't help but be amused by the situation. A quick glance to Satsuki revealed the same thing.

"Come on Ino-chan," said Chouji, trying his best to placate his wife before she decided to do something drastic. "You can torture him later. I'm hungry already."

"This isn't over Ranma," she said, huffing and walking into the back area of the restaurant normally reserved for shinobi.

Once the couple had left, Kaname and Fujitaka burst out laughing while Misami was trying to hide her laughter behind her hand. Out of the corner of his eye, Ranma-chan could see a small grin on Satsuki's face.

"I'm surprised Ranma," Kaname finally said, managing to reign in her laughter. "You're probably the only teenager who can talk to the older shinobi the way you do and not get into a lot of trouble."

"Is it really that surprising?" she asked, to which the Genin trio just nodded. "I guess maybe to you three it is. Maybe it's 'coz of my old man. He taught me how to read my opponent in and out of a fight to get a basic understanding of them. Then I ssay something to get a reaction that I want. I remember this guy from when I was thirteen. All I did was say that he swam like a brick and then he burst out crying that he let his teacher down."

"Seriously?" all three Genin asked, surprised to hear about such a person.

"Nah, not really," was Ranma-chan's reply. The fact that Ranma-chan said all this with a straight face made it much more amusing to the outside observer when the three Genin fell out of their seats. "See? That's what I mean. I guess I just had fun doing it that it's just second nature to me. Of course I only used to say stuff to get others mad at me. That way, they wouldn't be able to properly focus on the fight."

After that, they all continued eating their meals while engaging in conversation, mostly about what they've been doing since their mission to Suna. After paying for their meal, the five of them walked to the training grounds together, the trio to meet up with Kurenai and the pair to meet up with Kakashi for Ranma-chan's ninjutsu lessons.

While all this was going on, an important meeting was going on in Suna. Inside the Kazekage's office stood five people. One was Gaara of the Desert, the Kazekage of Suna. The second and third were Temari and Kankuro, his older sister and older brother respectively. The fourth person was Neji Hyuuga and the fifth was Kiba Inuzuka. On the Kazekage's desk was large brown urn covered in seals.

"Is this it?" Asked Gaara, gazing at the urn intently then looking up to face the two Konoha Jounin.

Neji nodded and said, "That's right. This is the current container of Shukaku, the Ichibi no Tanuki."

"I see. Thank you, both of you. I'll make sure that you're properly compensated for your troubles." He paused then said, "Neji, I also have something here for you."

Gaara faced his sister and nodded to her. Temari nodded back and stepped forward towards Neji and Kiba, reaching into her clothes and pulling out a scroll. "This is something our spy in Kumo discovered while you were on your search," she said, handing the scroll to Neji. "I know its decades too late but I'm sure that this is something you'll want to know just the same."

Neji took the proffered scroll and unrolled it, reading through its contents. As he read through its contents, an array of emotions passed through his face going from surprise, to anger then to sadness. All four people in the room awaited his reaction to the information on the scroll, one of them also waiting to see if he would be sharing that information with him.

When Neji finally finished reading through the scroll, he rolled it up once more then placed it inside his pocket. "Thank you for giving me this," he said towards the Sand siblings. "I'm very grateful."

The Kazekage just nodded in return before Neji left the office, followed by Kiba. Once the two had left, Gaara continued to gaze down on the urn before saying, "Kankuro, Temari, I want you two to look for someone for me."

"Look for…" Began Temari.

"Someone?" Finished Kankuro as they looked towards each other then back to Gaara.

"That's right," he nodded. "I'll need you to look for a certain Seal Master and have him come here for the sealing."

"Can't we just ask Naruto?" Asked Kankuro, asking the obvious question. "He is a Seal Master isn't he? He's even surpassed both the Yondaime Hokage and Jiraiya-sama."

"That may be true but he has no experience when it comes to this form of sealing," replied the red-haired man. "We'll need someone who has worked with these kinds of seals in the past."

"Wait," drawled out Kankuro, realizing who it was that his younger brother was sending him out to search for. "You can't be talking about-"

"Precisely Kankuro," cutting his older brother off. "He is the only one qualified for this job. If he is unwilling to come then you are to return at once."

"But then-"

Once again, Gaara cut him off. "If he doesn't come then I'll just have to ask Uzumaki. Although as much as I trust him and his sealing abilities, I would prefer someone who has more experience in these matters. You'll be in charge of this mission Kankuro."

"Alright" He nodded, hiding his surprise of being chosen to be the mission leader over Temari, who was admittedly better at him at that job. "We'll set out immediately." Then turning to Temari he said, "We'll meet up at the north gate in an hour. I'm guessing that we'll be searching for about two or three months so pack what you need."

Temari nodded before she and Kankuro left the office, leaving Gaara alone in the room. He walked towards the window and gazed down at the village, seeing his siblings walking down the street moments later before parting ways. "Kankuro," Gaara whispered softly into the air. 'I certainly hope you can learn from this mission. You are known in the shinobi world as a master puppeteer. Your unique puppet-making skills far surpass any other and will no doubt be essential during this war. With the loss of Jiraiya-sama as Konoha's and, through our alliance, our information gatherer, our intelligence network is severely weakened.'

'Konoha has the Hyuuga, Aburame and Inuzuka clans to help with that loss and even Naruto has powerful allies outside his and our village. Although my sand can help, I can only do so much with my position as Kazekage,' he thought as though speaking with his brother while walking back to his seat. 'Your unique puppets would help fill that gap within our forces. That, coupled with the fact that only a select few know of your special puppets would make you the perfect spy and informant for our forces. It helped quite a lot during the war against Orochimaru and Oto but with a war of this scale we cannot afford to wait several days for your puppets to return with the needed information.'

'Just like Jiraiya-sama, you will need to have an information network with trusted informants from around the continent to provide you with information as soon as possible. This mission will definitely help you with this. However, it will be up to you whether you can learn this lesson.' He paused in his thoughts as he looked out the window and saw Temari and Kankuro leaping across the village towards the north. He remembered telling Temari about this concern and it was she who suggested that they test Kankuro to see if he has what it takes to be Jiraiya's replacement for the coming war. 'Temari, I trust you'll help him with this lesson. If he fails, then Suna will surely fall during this war, one way or another.'

Meanwhile in Kumo and Iwa's hideout, the Raikage and the Tsuchikage were busy planning out their next attack on the forces of Konoha and Suna. "We already know that Suna can somehow travel to Fire Country in only a few hours and still have the strength to fight," began the younger woman. "Given that Konoha would have needed to send them a message about the attack, we can assume that Konoha can do the same and travel to Wind Country in the same amount of time as well."

"If that's true then we'll have to avoid making the location and the plans of our forces known until the last possible moment," replied the older Raikage. "Even then we'll have to make sure that nobody gets the chance to send a message to the other village otherwise we'll be attacked from behind. The only way would be to surround the entire village and make sure nobody gets past our army."

"That would be the most prudent course of action given our limited information. However, which village do we attack?" That had been the question that was plaguing the pair of Kages ever since the failure of their first attack. "Suna is much smaller but have many elite shinobi at their disposal. The Kazekage's sand is also formidable, even without the demon sealed within him. The simple fact that we will be fighting in a desert makes him all the more dangerous."

"Konoha on the other hand has a much larger shinobi army but only a few elite shinobi. Their teamwork and unity is the strongest among all the shinobi villages, which allows three of their ordinary Jounin, sometimes even Chuunin, to match up against three elite Jounin from any other village."

"Attacking either village would be difficult," agreed the Raikage with a sagely nod. "We'll have to put off attacking for a while now that we've lost Satsuki as well. She was our best chance at taking out Uzumaki and Gaara but now that she's gone we'll have to find a way to eliminate them without a fight. Until our scientists can come up with results we'll have to be careful when we plan any attack."

"If that's the case then perhaps we should attack a village other than Konoha or Suna."

"Go on," urged the old man.

"One of the reasons why Orochimaru was losing his fight against Konoha was not just because of Konoha's strength. It was also because of Konoha's allies. Asides from Suna, Uzumaki managed to create an alliance with two others."

"You mean the former Snow Country and the Fuuma Clan?"

"Correct. The shinobi of Snow Country have a special armor, which protects them from most attacks while amplifying their own abilities. The Fuuma Clan may no longer be as large in numbers as they used to be but they are still made up of elite shinobi. If we can eliminate these two as a source of reinforcements for Konoha then we won't have to worry about being caught off guard by either of those two."

"And their destruction will in turn demoralize Konoha and Suna," finished the Raikage. "And if we do this right, we may find access to how their Chakra armor is created."

"This will require extensive planning." Turning to the shadows, she spoke to the shinobi that was there. "Gather all our strategists and anyone who has important knowledge regarding our targets."

"Understood." With a swirl of dust, the shinobi disappeared from the room.

Walking into Naruto's office, Ranma and Satsuki spotted the Hokage working through the paperwork with his wife making sure he did it properly. "You wanted to see me?" He asked, walking over to the desk to stand in front of Naruto.

Naruto looked up and nodded, setting down his pen on the table. "I just wanted to inform you about a change in your training schedule," he said, reaching into a drawer and pulling out a scroll. He handed the scroll to Ranma as he explained the changes. "Starting tonight you'll be learning strategy in place of your tracking and stealth training. I don't know if Happosai's already told you but we think that you have what it takes to lead. Not just a small group but an entire army."

Knowing that Satsuki was there, he chose his next words carefully. "During the war there will be times when I'll be needed to stay and protect the village from a possible attack while a part of the army leaves the village to attack the enemy. What I want is for you to learn about the… finer arts of war and combat. The right strategy often leads to a victory without the need for bloodshed, which I would prefer not have especially on our side."

"Shikamaru is the village's top strategist, even if he is the laziest," he muttered the second part quietly. "He'll be the best person to teach you about this. Whether it's war strategy or for a one-on-one fight, he'll teach you until he either gets too lazy to teach you or you learn everything you need."

"So you're saying that I might be leading the army during the war?" Asked Ranma, already knowing which war they were talking about.

"Right. I honestly think that you do have what it takes," replied Naruto, giving Ranma a sincere smile. "Anyway, you better go. Shikamaru should be on his way to the park to meet you."

"The… park?"

Ranma and Satsuki arrived at the park and found the Nara clan head lying on the ground, staring up at the late afternoon clouds. "This is so troublesome," they heard him mutter before he sat up. "Well, we might as well get this over with. The sooner I finish teaching you then the sooner I can get back to not doing anything."

He led Ranma to the assembly area, which was currently empty. At the center of the room, where the table was, was a shogi board that was already set up with two chairs. "I assume you know how to play?" He asked, sitting down on one side while Ranma sat on the other and Satsuki remained standing. When Ranma nodded, Shikamaru said, "Good. It would have been too troublesome to explain otherwise. Let's start. I'll give you a rundown of what you did right and what you did wrong at the end of every game. Alright, you're first."

Satsuki watched as Ranma and Shikamaru played their first game. She had been taught how to play as well for the same reason as Ranma. It was obvious to her that Ranma didn't know much about strategy as he seemed to either move at random or make a move that was obviously stupid. If it wasn't either of the two he was making an amateur's move, neither stupid nor intelligent, something that looked just right for the current situation.

'He doesn't think ahead at all,' she noted as the game drew on. 'Nara would have finished the game already but I suppose he's trying to see what Ranma is capable of first. He should have just ended the game sooner then explain why he lost.'

Their game ended ten minutes later with Shikamaru the obvious winner. "Well, you certainly know the rules but you obviously haven't played much," he commented, placing the pieces back to their starting positions. "That game was just to see how much you know about playing the game. Now we play for real so if you were purposely playing stupid, don't."

With that, the two continues playing game after game after game with Shikamaru explaining Ranma's mistakes and complimenting him on making intelligent moves, which only happened once the entire time. Following Ranma's schedule, he took a break for dinner then returned to the assembly building to continue his lessons.

Needless to say that by the time their time was up, Ranma was mentally exhausted. "I hate this," commented Ranma out loud as he let his head fall on the surface of the table while Shikamaru packed the shogi board. "Isn't there another way of doing this?"

"Would you rather I explained the theories of strategy?" Shikamaru asked with a lazy sigh as he finished packing the board. Ranma muttered a quick no, to which the strategist nodded. "Regardless of how many mistakes you made you still did well for your first day. Naruto was right about you. You learn quickly, which is good. The more games we played, the better you got, even if by a little at a time. You'll probably be ready to lead a small group in a few more days. As troublesome as this is, I'll see you tomorrow."

Shikamaru left without another word, leaving Ranma and Satsuki alone in the assembly building. With another sigh Ranma stood from his seat and began to walk out as well, followed closely by Satsuki who said, "You skills are just pathetic."

"Thanks," Ranma replied in a sarcastic tone while looking down at his charge with a twitching eye. "Anyway, it's getting late. We should head back to the apartment. I've got another day of training tomorrow after all."

"Not going to stay out late to train?" Asked Satsuki, an eyebrow quirked up when she asked this.

"Nah. After a lesson like this I definitely need to rest for a while," he replied with a smile as they walked along the dark streets of Konoha. "By the way, I've been thinking."

"You're thinking?" She asked in mock surprise. "That's a big step for you. Be careful not to strain your brain."

"I'm more worried about how to explain it to you. It might be too much for your little brain to understand," he replied in the same mocking tone. "Don't strain yourself trying to understand alright?"

"I'll try to understand your babbling so don't worry."

"Glad we came to an understanding then."

As they walked through the quiet streets, meeting a few shinobi on patrol, Satsuki asked, "So what were you thinking about?"

"I was just thinking about what to do with you."

"What to do with me?"

"Yeah, I mean, you can't just hang around doing nothing all day. Also, I don't think Naruto-san would want you to see Konoha's ninjas while they're training."

"And you're actually agreeing with him?"

"Nah, personally I don't think it would make any difference whether or not you see them train. But he'd probably do something drastic if he starts to think that you're a big threat, even if you can't really do much at the moment."

"Of course I would be a threat. In the shinobi world, whoever controls the information, controls the battle and the war. If I knew every strength and every weakness of every shinobi of Konoha then the village will fall within moments."

"Maybe. But these guys are ninjas, masters of deception. What makes you think that they're showing their real weakness? Showing everything you can do in a fight is stupid unless it's necessary. Showing everything you know to someone you don't trust completely is also stupid. These guys know you're from Iwa but you don't see them stopping their training or stop what they're doing. It's because they're just not showing you everything they can do."

"You think I don't know that?"

"Well, you sounded like you didn't," he said with a shrug. "Anyway, knowing that won't change a thing. You still don't know what their real weakness is. Besides, if you do find out the real weaknesses I could make you forget it in a moment."

Not knowing whether to believe him or not, Satsuki opted to just file that away for another time. "So what was it you were going to say?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, that. Well, since I'll be busy most of the time and I don't really think you'd like having to follow me everywhere or something like that, I thought about it."

"And?"

"Well, I found something for you to do."

"And what would that be?"

Ranma just gave her a grin that caused her to shiver.

_END CHAPTER_

**And this is the end for this chapter. So how was it? Please click on the 'GO' button at the bottom of the page and tell us what you think of this chapter. Like it? Hate it? Love it? Despise it? Comment? Suggestion? Flames? Criticisms? Any and all is welcome as nothing you say can discourage us, only motivate us to write better, if we can.**

**Until the next chapter then.**


	20. Arc 2 Chapter 10

Terms of Engagement

Terms of Engagement

By Overlord of Order and Overlord of Chaos

**SUMMARY: What if many of the on-goings involving Genma and Nodoka was all a hoax? What if most of what they've said was a lie? What reason could they have to lie to so many people? What does it have to do with Ranma's future?**

**Hey everyone, we're back with another chapter. Here's a little insight into this chapter for everyone. This chapter is dedicated to Satsuki and will focus mostly on her, specifically with what Ranma had planned for her. We hope you enjoy this chapter. **

**We got a PM from two people and one of them asked if we had any intention of having any romance in this story with Ranma involved. We'll say it again, no. Not unless a majority of you ask for it.**

**The other one, ****keichan2,**** had something very interesting to tell us. And if you're reading this, which we're sure you are, then all we can say is that we're not going to say if you're right or wrong. If you really want to know if you were right or wrong then PM us again or leave a message in a review. Don't want to be spoiling anything for you unless you directly asked us to spoil it for you. **

**Also, a big thanks to ****MadHat886. ****After reading his story from the top, since I'd forgotten most of the details, I managed to get the writer's block out of my head to finish this chapter. No thanks to my co-writer & brother since he was too busy with our school projects. :P **

_Previously_

"Well, I found something for you to do."

"And what would that be?"

Ranma just gave her a grin that caused her to shiver.

_Arc 2: Ninja Training_

_Chapter 10: Satsuki in Konoha_

"'I found something for you to do' he says," growled out Satsuki so quietly that only she could hear. At the moment she was standing inside a room, looking around and glaring at all the people looking at her. She even spared a moment to glare even harder at Ranma, who was standing beside her with a hand on her shoulder and a stupid grin on his face. Well, stupid to her at least.

How did he get her to agree to this again? Oh right, Chakra. 'I didn't think he'd actually let me have some of my Chakra back if I agreed to do this. Even if it is at the level of an ordinary Genin, it is better than nothing at least for the moment. So long as I behave at least.'

They had gone out early that morning so that they could prepare her for the day she was about to go through. First thing they had done was to clear things up with Naruto so that Ranma was sure that he wasn't going to disagree with the idea. They were pleasantly surprised when he had spoken first, saying that he had already arranged for it the night before.

Next was shopping, clothes shopping to be exact since she couldn't go around wearing Ranma's training gi and her old clothes weren't ready for use just yet. They had gone to Tenten's store seeing it was a shinobi store and that Ranma knew her somewhat. That and he didn't know any other clothing store in Konoha. Given that she was shorter than Tenten's normal customers were, they had to order custom-made clothes and thus she had to settle for regular clothing for the moment. She had picked out a black shirt and black pants along with a fishnet shirt on the inside. While the clothing was simple, it served its purpose of clothing her and it was just the right size for her.

As they walked towards their destination, she had asked Ranma why she had to go through his idea. His answer was the agreement with her Chakra. They had also met up with Sakura, who happened to be going to the same place they were, just as he made a promise to Satsuki, although Satsuki knew nothing about what a promise from Ranma actually meant.

'I wonder if he'd really keep his promise though,' she thought as memory of their conversation that morning returned to her without the haze of anger clouding her memory. Mentally shaking her head, she chastised herself for thinking that he would actually keep it. 'Giving me back all my Chakra and taking off this pendant? He must think I'm stupid. Does he actually think that I'd believe for one moment he'd actually do it once this is all over. Well I'll show him. I'll be sure to kill him once I find a way out.' Then a sinister thought come to mind. 'Maybe I'll put this pendant on him and see how he likes it.'

"Well come on Satsuki-chan," said Ranma, breaking her away from her thoughts. "You should at least introduce yourself."

"Stop calling me that," she ground out with a clenched jaw and an even tighter fist. She then remembered their agreement and took a deep breath, calming herself down before she did anything to make him take away her temporarily tiny Chakra reserve. She turned her attention forward and bowed slightly, just enough to be seen but slight enough to possibly be interpreted as a nod. "My name is Satsuki," she said before giving everyone a harsh glare. "And if any of you call me Satsuki-chan I'll make sure you regret it."

"Are you sure about this?" Sakura whispered to Ranma, not necessarily trying to hide the conversation from Satsuki.

"Don't worry about it Sakura-san. I know that Satsuki's younger than them but I'm sure Satsuki-chan can handle it, right Satsuki-chan?" Ranma replied with a smile towards Satsuki.

"I said don't call me that," she nearly snapped out but managed to let it out with only a slightly hostile tone. As patient as Ranma was she didn't really know what he considered as not behaving herself. "And yes I'm sure I can handle this."

"See?" Replied the teenage martial artist with a wide smile.

"I wasn't worried about Satsuki," Sakura muttered to herself before she sighed and placed her hand on her forehead. 'This is going to be troublesome, I just know it.' She paused her thoughts as another one came to mind. 'Great, now I'm starting to sound like Shikamaru. Well, might as well get this over with.'

"Alright then if you're sure," she finally said, giving Satsuki one more appraising look before turning back to Ranma. "I'll see you later then and don't worry. I'll try my best to minimize the damage."

At this, Ranma gave her a confused look. "Don't you mean you'll try your best to keep her out of trouble?"

"No, I don't," she replied plainly. "Whenever you have something to do with it I can always count on something to go wrong," said Sakura in a slightly accusing tone, to which Satsuki couldn't help but be amused. "So like I said, I'll try to minimize the damage."

"Can't argue with that," muttered Ranma in acceptance before waving to Satsuki and leaving the room.

Once he was gone, Satsuki looked to Sakura who motioned for to join the other people in the room. "This is going to be a long day," she said to herself, already feeling very weary, before continuing in a louder voice. "First thing's first. I am Sakura Haruno and I would like to welcome you all back to the Ninja Academy."

REVIEWREVIEWREVIEWREVIEWREVIEW

Satsuki was bored, plain and simple. She had expected it to be, given that she already knew about the history of the Shinobi continent as well as the basics of what a ninja is. But at the moment, it was taking all of her willpower not to fall asleep on the spot. She didn't think it was possible for her to actually be bored enough that she would actually feel sleepy. Her head was visibly lowering then suddenly jerking back up. She tried to refrain from doing so but still this happened several times. When she was certain that she was about to fall asleep, she was jerked awake by the ringing of a loud bell from just outside the room.

"Alright everyone, that's it for now," said Sakura, gathering the few books she had used to show illustrations that helped with her lesson. Some let out sounds of disappointment while others made sounds of relief, Satsuki included, much to Sakura's amusement. "Just don't be late later on," she said after hearing those sounds. Now those who made the sounds of disappointment let out sounds of either excitement or relief while those who were relieved were now the disappointed ones as they were reminded that it was only noon. "It's time for lunch. Be sure to be back in an hour. I'll see you all later."

With that, Sakura left the room with the other instructors leaving the other rooms as well. They were soon followed by a heavy flow of students from each room, proceeding to the academy grounds while others opted to stay behind. Satsuki was one of the former, walking out of the academy and sitting underneath a tree. Looking around the immediate area, she only saw four other students who decided to eat their lunch in that area and by the look of things, three of them were very close to each other.

The three were all girls, a blonde, a redhead and a silver haired one, and by the way they were acting, Satsuki immediately labeled them as the type who didn't know exactly what being a Shinobi meant. Given that thought, she immediately tuned out their giggling and pointless conversation and instead focusing on the other person in the area. She was slightly puzzled as to whether that student was a boy or a girl.

The student's face was feminine enough to be considered a girl's but then again, she had seen a fair share of males who had a feminine face. 'Much too young to tell without actually asking as well and the hair isn't really a good indication.' She sighed, knowing that her only choice was to outright ask. 'I'll just leave it alone. It's not like I'll need to know anyway.'

Pulling out the lunch that Ranma had given her that morning, she began to unwrap the cloth around it and expected to see a take-out box due to the size. Upon unfolding the cloth, she was surprised to see not a take-out box but three bento boxes stacked on top of each other. She couldn't help but sweatdrop at the sight. 'Does he really expect me to eat all of this?' She asked herself before seeing a not stuck in between two of the boxes. Pulling it out, she unfolded the note and read it.

_I didn't really know what you wanted so I just packed a bit of everything. Enjoy Satsuki-chan_

Instead of a name, there was what appeared to be a small drawing at the bottom of the note. It was a drawing of whom she assumed was Ranma, given the pigtail, with his hand behind his head. She just sighed at the note before crumpling it and tossing over her shoulder then looking at the stack of boxes in front of her.

Realizing that they weren't going to disappear anytime soon, she sighed and picked one at random while putting the other two aside for the moment. She opened the lid and was slightly relieved at the sight. 'It looks normal,' she noted, slightly worried that he had botched his cooking attempt. 'I just hope it tastes normal as well.'

She looked at the assortment of food that Ranma had packed for her and picked one of the tidbits of food at random and placed it in her mouth. She paused the moment the taste of the food hit her. 'This is… good.' She tried the other bits of food in the box and the same thought came to mind with each one.

Without even realizing it, she had finished all the food inside the first bento box, realizing that it was empty only when her chopsticks clicked against the bottom of the box. She stared at the empty bento box with slightly wide eyes. 'I can't believe I actually finished all of that,' she thought in surprise. What came as more of a surprise to her, was the next line of thought. 'And I can't believe I'm still hungry.'

Sighing, she pulled out the second bento box and found herself looking forward to it. She found a different assortment of food from the first one upon opening it and continued to eat without hesitation.

"I don't believe it." One of the three girls, a short-haired blonde, whispered to her two friends. "I didn't think she'd actually eat more than one of her bento boxes. I mean, she looked surprised to see more than one after all."

"Well, who knows? Maybe she just thought there'd be two instead of three," replied the silver haired girl.

"Or maybe she expected more," finished the redhead in a quiet voice.

"Well, who cares why she was surprised," continued the first. "I'm more surprised that she's actually eating all three." Both friends nodded in agreement as they continued to watch their classmate eat through all three boxes lunches. By the end of it all, they noted that Satsuki seemed disappointed that she had eaten all three. Well, almost.

After eating her lunch, Satsuki put away the three boxes and laid her head back against the tree trunk. 'Great, now what?' She asked herself after realizing she had only spent fifteen minutes eating, leaving her with three-quarters of an hour left of waiting. 'I barely have enough Chakra so Chakra Control is out of the question.' She paused her thoughts for a moment before coming to a conclusion. 'I hate this.'

"Um… excuse me?"

Looking up, Satsuki saw the silver haired girl from her class standing over her. "What?" She asked with a blank face. "Is there something that you want?"

"Well, no, not really," replied the meek looking girl in an equally meek voice. "My friends and I were just wondering if you wanted to join us. You seemed lonely by yourself, that's all."

"No thank you," she replied, leaning back against the tree and looking up towards the sky. "I'm fine the way I am now."

"Oh, alright," said the girl, sounding disappointed. "If you change your mind you're more than welcome to join us."

"I'll keep that in mind," she said politely but inside she was saying, 'Just leave me alone already. I shouldn't even be here in the first place.' The girl bowed a bit before walking back to her friends to tell them of her answer. 'Weaklings like you have no place in the shinobi world. If you have time to play around with your friends then you might as well spend that time training to become stronger.'

Looking around the entire area, she saw all of the children in her class, as well as those in the lower classes, sitting around eating and talking with their friends. A few of them were off to the side practicing the tree climbing exercise but they didn't make a lot of progress. Others were lazing about, either doing nothing or sleeping, while some, like her, were observing the other students, but with a more neutral or friendly face.

She shook her head at the poor display as several students tried to perform the Replication Technique only for some of them to get it wrong. Others would try the Transformation Technique or the Body Replacement Technique. Some succeeded and some failed, causing her to frown. 'Even those that succeeded aren't fit to be shinobi. The academy students in Iwa could perform those techniques at a much faster speed. These students are pathetic. If this is Konoha's future then even if they win this war, they will fall soon.'

'Not even Uzumaki is immortal. Even he cannot fight against old age. All those who are fit to rule as the Hokage are within his generation and a few within the younger generation, such as the Sandaime Hokage's grandson. It is too soon to tell if this generation has a potential leader or even potential shinobi. However, given the way they are acting, only a few truly know about what it means to be a shinobi, to be a tool, a weapon that would be used not only by their Hokage, but also by their village and their country.'

So engrossed in her own thoughts, Satsuki failed to realize that she was being closely monitored and that the one who was watching her was slowly making their way towards the tree she was leaning against. 'I didn't think Uzumaki would allow his personal judgment to decide whether or not to let these children know what a shinobi is. On the other hand, am I looking at this the wrong way? Is it that they were informed and yet they still remain this way?'

Slowly, her watcher crept closer to Satsuki from behind the tree, careful not to make any loud noises that would attract her attention. 'How? How can they still remain so cheerful, knowing that they would have to take another's life.' Her eyes slightly widened as a thought came to mind. 'Unless-'

Her musings were cut short when suddenly two arms wrapped around her torso and pulled her back against the tree, although not too tightly. "Wh-What?" She managed to gasp out in surprise. The look of surprise disappeared on her face and was slowly replaced by a strange expression, one that looked as though she were trying to hold something in. Finally, she couldn't hold back as she let out a long, loud laugh that drew everyone's attention to her.

Everyone who heard her laughter turned around and saw Satsuki being held against the tree from behind, laughing as loud and as long as her lungs would allow her to before she had to breathe again only to laugh once more. As her arms were trapped to her sides, she tried kicking out with her legs and trying to stand but the sensation was too much and her legs felt too weak during that time to push herself up.

Wrapped around her waist were two arms coming from behind the tree with both hands moving rapidly, tickling her mercilessly. They couldn't help but laugh along when they her in that predicament, especially her classmates, who had seen how she normally was, quiet and nearly emotionless.

After a few minutes of laughing, the arms unwrapped themselves from her torso as she finally fell sideways to the ground, still laughing but not as loud as before. Stepping out from behind the tree, Satsuki's mind registered Ranma's presence as well as the large grin on his face. "You really should smile more often Satsuki-chan. You look pretty cute with a smile instead of a scowl."

Satsuki, who was still lying on her side on the ground, would have blushed at that comment had it been someone else other than Ranma who said it. No one, not even the Tsuchikage, whom she used to look up to as her mother figure, a very strict and demanding one at that, had ever complimented her on her appearance before. Now that she thought about it, she never received a single compliment, period. It was always about how she was finally learning something, how she failed to understand or how she failed to learn at all. While they were more supporting before she learned that she was simply being used, they never had anything good to say about her except for when she mastered a technique when they would say things like, "Good, let's move on," or "Next lesson."

Everyone around her failed to notice as a lone tear made its way out of her eye and down the side of her face before it fell to the ground. 'A tear?' She asked herself in wonder. 'Why now? I haven't shed a tear ever since that day,' she thought, thinking back to when she had first attempted to escape and the revelation that she was nothing more than a weapon in the eyes of the Tsuchikage and Raikage. 'I haven't allowed my emotions to get the better of me since that day so why? Why now of all times when I'm surrounded by children?'

Filing the question away to the back of her mind, at least for the moment, she pushed herself off the ground and dusted herself off, all the while glaring at Ranma. She didn't say a word and chose to head back to the classroom to await the end of their lunch period. Because of this course of action, she failed to notice the look of sadness in Ranma's eyes.

Returning to the classroom, she found it empty of students. She did, however, find Sakura sitting at the front of the classroom looking over a small stack of papers. She failed to notice Satsuki as she took her seat silently, although Satsuki doubted that. "You know," began Sakura without looking up from her work. "Ranma means well, even if it didn't seem like the best way to go about it. You should give him a chance and open up to him, even just a bit."

"And what would you know?" Satsuki replied sourly. "He isn't the one holding you captive."

"Captive? Hardly," scoffed the pink-haired medic-nin. "If you haven't noticed, nobody has been watching you asides from Ranma. And before you say anything, it's not that we're underestimating you since you're currently at the level of an academy ninja, or maybe Genin level. It's more of the fact that you aren't a captive. It was one of Ranma's terms that you be allowed to leave whenever you wanted to."

"So I could just walk out of Konoha and none of you would stop me?"

"Well, Ranma was also clear that anything that has to do with you has to go through him otherwise he would well… he didn't really say what he would do," said Sakura, remembering the private meeting that Ranma had with Naruto, Hinata and herself. "He said that we would wish that we did as he asked once he did what he would if anyone ever interfered with your life without passing it through him first."

"He said that?" Asked Satsuki, slightly surprised that Ranma would go to such lengths for her. 'Or is it really for me?' She asked herself, finding it hard to believe that he would do something like that. "Why would he need to do something like that?" She asked Sakura, growing curious to Ranma's intentions regarding her.

"I suppose that he is just trying to keep his promise to himself."

"A promise to himself?" She asked in disbelief. It was at that moment that she remembered something he said when they first spoke to each other. "What… kind of promise?"

_FLASHBACK_

"Tell me something," she said, catching Ranma's attention as he began to walk out of the cell. "Why did you save me? Surely you understand that if I were to escape then I would pose a danger to Konoha. Uzumaki said so himself. If that were to happen then you would be held responsible. So why? Why do you take the risk and save me still?"

"I saved you," he began, turning around to face Satsuki with a small smile on his face. "Because you're still young. That's a promise I made to myself two years ago when I realized that I had basically lost my childhood, all because I was training to become the best martial artist in the world. I guess seeing you reminded me of myself; forced to grow up quickly because of the wants of others."

"And how do you know that I grew up quickly because of the wants of others and not because I wanted to?"

"I don't. Call it instinct. Don't believe me if you don't want to but I'm sticking with it. If you wanna grow up quickly that's fine with me. But you'll regret it in the end. They say that power comes at a price. For me, that price was my childhood and the lack of friends."

_END FLASHBACK_

"It was a promise that he would not allow others children to go through what he went through," replied Sakura, unaware that Satsuki already knew the reason for Ranma's promise. "He didn't want other children losing their childhood just like he did, so he made a promise to himself to help those children regain what they lost before it was too late. He sees you as one of those children, which is why he's doing all this for you."

"Naruto understands this reasoning," she continued to explain. "However, he's still wary of the danger you pose not just to Konoha, but to the villagers and the shinobi living in the village. He opposes Ranma's plan because he doesn't want to gamble with the lives of the villagers."

Satsuki snorted in return, looking out the window towards the other academy students. "As I've said before, it would have been better if he had killed me instead of taking this risk."

"Ranma's just stubborn that way," replied Sakura with a smile. "I've only known him for nearly two months but he is very stubborn, that much I'm sure of. Some think that he's more stubborn than Naruto was when he was younger. When he sets his mind to something, he won't give up on it."

"Even if it is a lost cause?"

"Not even then," replied Sakura with a small smile. "While it's that same trait that may cause trouble, it's also what allows both Naruto and Ranma to fight against impossible odds. While it may seem hard to believe, sometimes pure determination can be enough to succeed. Of course, that doesn't apply to everything."

"And his determination to get through to me is in which category?"

"It could be either one depending on what happens in the future. I can honestly see Ranma's plan succeeding just as easily as it could fail. Besides, nothing is ever certain. Even the most well thought out plans can have an unexpected turn no matter how long you go over the plan. That unexpected event could be disastrous or it could be a blessing. Who knows?" She asks, looking up from her work to give a smile towards the auburn haired girl. "He might actually succeed."

Satsuki didn't say anything in response to that idea and remained silent, thinking over the older woman's words up until the bell rang and the students began returning to the classroom. Sakura waited for all of her students to take their seats before beginning. "Alright, before we go outside for our taijutsu practice, I'm going to test you all on your progress of Transformation. When I call your name, come up to the front and transform into someone of your choice." She reached into a small box that was on the table and pulled out a small piece of paper. Reading the name written on it, she called out, "First, Shizuka Aburame."

Looking to her right, Satsuki watched as a girl who sat along the second row, next to the window, stood up and walked forward. At first glance, she appears to be a typical Aburame, quiet and wearing a large coat although with a hood that covered most of her head instead of just leaving it open for others to see. Another sign was the dark sunglasses she wore that hid her eyes, making it harder to read her emotions like all the Aburame clan members. In fact, Satsuki could have sworn that she was male if not for her name, Shizuka.

Standing in front of her classmates, Shizuka formed the necessary handseal and with a barely audible whisper of "Transformation." A cloud of smoke covered her form and when the smoke dissipated, there stood an exact copy of Ranma as they had all seen from earlier that day.

Satsuki was surprised that of all people, the girl had chosen to transform into a copy of Ranma. Sakura herself was surprised by this. They had only been in the room with him for a few moments and it seems that he had already made an impression. "Interesting choice, Shizuka," commented Sakura. "But tell me, why choose Ranma?"

"…" Shizuka was silent for a moment, making everyone wonder what was going on inside her head. She gave her reply after dispelling the technique. "He intrigues me," was all she said in a quiet voice before walking back to her seat.

'Are all Aburames this cryptic?' She asked herself. 'I swear it's like they get harder to understand with each generation. Not even Shino was this cryptic. Shibi-san was even easier to understand than Shino.' After drawing another name from the box, she called out the name like last time. "Hiroshi Matsuda."

Satsuki watched as each student walked to the front of the classroom and performed the required technique. After doing so, Sakura had asked some of them to explain why they had chosen those people. Soon, all the students had taken a turn and Satsuki knew what was coming next. "Satsuki…" Everyone was suddenly curious as to why Sakura stopped before saying Satsuki's last name. Even Satsuki herself was wondering why she had paused.

Sakura continued to stare down at the paper in her hands, which happened to be Satsuki's student record. It hadn't occurred to her that they never knew Satsuki's last name until that moment. "Sakura-sensei?" One of the students called out but failed to catch her attention.

Deciding to throw caution to the wind, Sakura gestured for Satsuki to go to her, which she did with some confusion. "What's wrong?" She asked upon reaching the front of the classroom.

"It's about your family name," began Sakura with some hesitation. "Are you sure you want to use this?"

"Family… name?" She repeated in a whisper as she began to think. 'Now that I think about it, I never knew my own family name. All I know is that my father is Orochimaru. What was his family name?' She asked herself as a thought came to mind. 'Uzumaki probably knows that Orochimaru is my father. Orochimaru is a missing-nin from Konoha, this very village. Is she asking because she is unsure about whether I want my connection to my father known, especially in my weakened condition.'

'Well what do I care what they think?' She nearly asked aloud. 'It doesn't really matter if they find out who my father is.' With her mind made up she turned to Sakura and said, "I'm sure." She was also thinking about how she would finally know which clan she truly belongs to.

"If you say so," replied Sakura but still seemed unsure. "For now, please demonstrate the Transformation technique."

Satsuki nodded and formed the handseal and whispered the word, "Transformation." A cloud of smoke covered her from view for a moment before clearing up and revealed an exact copy of Ranma-chan, wearing the same outfit that Ranma usually did. Several boys in the class were wide-eyed at this while some of the girls looked jealous.

After Satsuki dispelled the technique, Sakura asked, "So why did you choose her?"

With a well-concealed smirk, Satsuki replied. "Everyone here has already seen Ranma so why not show what he looks like when his bloodline ability is activated?"

That one statement caused loud murmurs to spread across the room as Sakura groaned, knowing that they would either be asking her, Satsuki or Ranma regarding that piece of information. 'Well,' she smirked mentally as she watched Satsuki walking back to her seat. 'At least there'll be some payback.'

"Good job… Saotome-san," she finished with a well hidden grin that disappeared almost as soon as it appeared.

Satsuki paused mid-step as her head slowly and mechanically turned around to face Sakura. "What?"

"Saotome," repeated Sakura, looking down at the paper in her hands. "That is your last name right?"

In the blink of an eye the student record was gone from her hand and was in Satsuki's clutches. 'S-Satsuki S-S-Saotome?!' Her mind screamed at the thought of sharing a name with Ranma of all people. 'I-Is this some kind of joke? Does he actually think it's funny?'

Satsuki resisted the urge to rip the piece of paper into more pieces but couldn't help but crumple it in her hands at the very least. With a growl, she placed it back onto the desk and stomped back to her seat. She placed her head in her hands and everybody began to edge away from her at the large amount of killing intent she was releasing as she thought of countless ways to get back at Ranma for everything he's done so far.

Shrugging off Satsuki's killing intent, Sakura straightened out the crumpled students' record before placing it back on the pile on the table. "Alright everyone, I'll see you outside to see how your taijutsu is coming along. Be there in two minutes. Anyone who's late will run laps around the academy."

Disappearing in a puff of smoke, the student followed quickly, trying to get away from Satsuki lest she decide to take out her anger on any of them. Satsuki followed them, at a slow pace, as she continued to think of way to torture Ranma as painfully as possible without killing him. At least, not until she's done with her plans.

Outside in the practice area, Satsuki arrived just as the two minutes ran out and Sakura addressed them all. "Alright, as usual I'll pick two names at random. Once your name is called, step up to the center of the field and wait for my signal. The fight is over when I say so. Understand?" Everyone nodded and moved to the sides as they waited for Sakura to call out the first pair of fighters.

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"So Ranma, what made you decide to put her in the academy?"

Ranma dodged a barrage of kunai before rushing forward to attack his Genjutsu instructor. "Well," he paused to duck beneath a roundhouse kick then quickly hopped up to avoid a sweep of her leg. He spun in mid-air and lashed out with his leg only to be stopped by Kurenai's arm. She, however, was pushed back by the sheer power behind the kick. "I didn't really think she'd like following me around just about every day to every place I went. And I'm sure Naruto-san wouldn't like to see her wandering around unsupervised."

"Good point," she replied before dodging a punch that could have taken off her head. "But still, to put her in the academy where she could easily kill all those students? Even without Chakra, taijutsu can be more than enough given her ability."

"Well, since you haven't really been around her that much I'm not surprised you don't know. I'm sure Kaname or Fujitaka would be more than enough to take her down, even if they only used taijutsu. Speaking of which, where are they?"

"They're on a D-rank mission with a shadow clone. Still, what do you mean? How can you expect Kaname or Fujitaka to take out Satsuki with only taijutsu. Even without Chakra, I'm certain that she'd be a formidable opponent." The red-eyed Jounin just watched as Ranma smirked before dispelling a Genjutsu she had just cast on the area.

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"Next pair." Sakura's voice rang out through the area as the two combatants returned to the sidelines. "Satsuki Saotome against Hisami Ishida."

Whispers began going around as Satsuki stepped forward to face up against a girl who appeared to have a serene smile permanently glued to her face. Satsuki caught some of the whispers and she grinned at what she heard. 'So this girl is the best taijutsu fighter of this year's graduating class. I see. Well then, maybe I'll show her that there's someone better than her and wipe that annoying smile off her face.'

She looked at her opponent to try and see who she would be fighting. The girl appeared to be younger than the rest of the class, but still older than Satsuki, which hinted that she may be more advanced than those her own age, possibly more advanced than those in the class. She had brown hair that was gathered into a bun at the back of her head, most likely to keep it from getting in the way.

Both fighters got into a stance, awaiting Sakura's signal to begin. Glancing at both fighters, Sakura yelled out, "Begin."

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"When it comes to close combat," Ranma began to explain his view while dodging a large fireball. "There are five things that will let you know who will be victorious. Strength and speed." Ranma demonstrated the first two by suddenly appearing at the edge of the clearing and punching a hole through a tree then delivering a roundhouse that took out a solid portion of the trunk. Just as the tree fell, Ranma caught it and tossed it towards Kurenai, who dodged despite the display of strength.

"Stamina and resilience." Once again, Ranma demonstrated this by appearing in the tree's path and taking the force of his own throw head on without putting up any visible form of defense. Even after smashing into another tree, Ranma didn't show any visible signs of damage or even a sign that he was hurt. "And most importantly, skill."

Ranma didn't really need to demonstrate the last as he demonstrated this every time he fought or trained. Inwardly, Kurenai sighed in relief, not wanting Ranma demonstrating this, especially on her. "But what does this have to do with Satsuki? I know that she has all of that in spades."

"Does she?" Asked Ranma after reappearing right in front of her with that annoying grin of his.

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Satsuki pushed herself off the ground and leapt to the side just in time to avoid a heel drop from the still smiling Hisami. She was too slow to avoid the leg sweep that followed, causing her to fall to the ground once more. 'W-Why? Why can't I even hit her?'

She rolled away and quickly stood back up and raised her arm to block the punch that followed. Her arm, however, began to throb in pain and she bit back the urge to make it known. 'I don't believe this. Why am I so weak? I can fight Uzumaki on even ground but I can't even fight an academy ninja with only taijutsu?' She grimaced in pain when she tried to block once more with the same arm as earlier. 'Why?'

In her mind there was absolutely no reason as to why the brown-haired girl should have been able to even touch her, let alone hurt her.

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"I'm afraid I don't understand where this is going," replied Kurenai, watching as Ranma easily stopped her kick with his arm before pushing it away and jumping back to dispel another Genjutsu. "She can fight Naruto easily, even when using the power of the Kyuubi."

"That's true," he replied, knocking away a barrage of kunai with his own before returning the kunai to its pouch. "Did you forget though? She can't use Chakra."

"What does Chakra have to do with a taijutsu battle? True she can use it to augment her abilities but still, I don't think that the Tsuchikage will let her fight when she's defenseless without Chakra."

"Maybe but… call it a hunch."

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"That's enough!" Sakura called a halt to the battle as soon as she recovered from her shock. There it was, Iwa and Kumo's secret weapon and she was being beaten down by the top taijutsi fighter of the academy. 'This is… unbelievable. I know she barely has any Chakra to access but still. Is she like how Naruto used to be? A powerhouse in her own right but with an obvious weakness?'

She quickly ran over to Satsuki while Hisami walked to join her friends. Checking over Satsuki's injured body, she quickly formed handseals and when she finished, her hands began to glow green. One by one, Satsuki's cuts and bruises disappeared until there wasn't any sign that she was ever injured in the first place. "Are you alright?" She asked as Satsuki sat up from the ground.

"I'm fine," she growled out, managing to stand but still shaky. "I don't understand though," she whispered to herself. "Why couldn't I do anything?"

Sakura wanted to answer but she herself didn't know what happened. She growled a bit as well when a certain person came to mind. 'Ranma.'

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Ranma felt a shiver go down his spine, causing him to freeze up for a moment before dodging a second later, barely avoiding being pulled underground by Kurenai. "What happened?" She asked as her Shadow Clone disappeared when Ranma struck it with a kunai. "You don't usually get distracted in the middle of a fight."

"I just got a bad feeling all of a sudden. Maybe I'll skip my medic training with Sakura-san and hide for the rest of the day."

Kurenai just rolled her eyes at this, still having trouble understanding how Ranma placed most of his decisions on instinct or decided with the help of something childish and immature, such as flipping a coin or playing rock, paper, scissors to decide. She decided to end their practice session for the moment as she walked over to the side to pick up two bottles of water. Tossing one to Ranma she said, "So tell me, why do you think that Kaname and Fujitaka can take her down in a one-on-one taijutsu only battle?"

"Honestly? She's weak."

"I doubt that."

"No, no, what I mean is that she's weak, physically. Sure she's got a lot of Chakra for a kid, she has that bloodline that lets her harden her body but that's all. She got mad so much that she tried punching and kicking me for it. I really don't get her at times. One moment we're talking then the next she's hitting me for no reason."

Kurenai paused for a moment and gave Ranma a skeptical look before saying, "You did that on purpose didn't you?"

Ranma laughed sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head "I was that obvious huh?" He asked with a small grin. "Anyway, even though she can fight, she's honestly not as strong as you might think. I was watching when she and Naruto-san fought each other and I noticed that she relied a lot on her techniques and her hard skin during the fight. Also, whenever she punched the ground her fist just went right through the ground."

"So? That doesn't really mean anything."

"Actually it does. When you can punch a rock and your fist goes right through, it means that you can continue pushing your arm forward even though the rock stopped it. It's much like when a needle enters the ground or a tree. Normally, it wouldn't pierce through but with enough strength, it goes right in. Even if you cut off the sharp end or make it blunt, it can still go in with the right amount of force. Because Satsuki can harden her skin, she can easily punch through the ground because she doesn't have to be afraid of hurting herself and therefore, she can keep drilling her arm into the ground until she can't any longer."

"When you hit something, what happens?" Not giving Kurenai a chance to answer, he said, "The impact causes the force and momentum behind the attack to travel through the object. However, it's not just that. If you place your hand on the opposite side, you'll also feel the impact if it was strong enough. If there's a lot of force behind a punch or kick and it's stopped by something like the ground or a boulder, the force behind the attack transfers to whatever's hit."

"I already know that much but what does this have to do with Satsuki?"

"Why do you think a crater is formed if something heavy falls to the ground or if someone strong punches the ground? It's because of that. The impact already causes damage and the force of the attack continues to travel through the ground, breaking the ground apart along the way and pushing it back at the same time. However, the farther it goes from where it originated, the weaker it gets. It continues to weaken until it's weak enough that the force at that point is no longer strong enough to break the ground apart."

"Of course, the impact also travels back along the arm, which makes it very possible to injure yourself as well," he explained, taking a stick and stabbing the tree trunk with it, causing the stick to break in half. "The more dangerous people are those who can not only form a crater with a punch, but can also punch through solid rock," he added. "Since their arm is buried deeper in the ground when their punch is stopped, the area of impact is much deeper underground, therefore the force of the punch carries farther underground than usual. But if they punch a tree and their fist goes through to the other side then of course, there no place for the shockwave to come from so the tree won't be damaged much except for the hole in the trunk."

"I think I understand what you're saying," replied Kurenai who was in a thinking pose while leaning against the tree. "It's like saying that Satsuki can force the ground to compress tighter in the direction she punches because her bones won't break from the force of her punch, but the shockwave of the attack isn't strong enough to affect the ground around it. However, someone like you has enough force that the momentum from your punch travels into the ground that even the ground around your punch is breaking apart and is being pushed downwards as well, compressing it even more than Satsuki's. Breaking apart and compressing the earth underground then causes the visible part of the ground to collapse as more space is made beneath it." Looking back up to Ranma from her speculations she said, "That's what you're trying to say, right?"

"I guess so. I mean, I'm just repeating what some old man told me when I was fourteen. I understand it better now but your explanation was way better."

Kurenai was floored by that statement. There he was, giving such an advanced explanation of how the force behind a punch determines what happens to the ground and he didn't even understand it completely. Although, he did understand it enough to know how to use it to gauge an opponent's strength. Just then, she remembered something. "Wait, how does this make Satsuki weak?" She asked, growing worried at the thought that she may not be as weak as Ranma thought she was. "None of the students at the academy are that strong."

"Well, think about it. There's a difference from when she was fighting Naruto-san to how she is now."

Kurenai thought over this for a moment but only one significant difference came to mind. "She can't use her Chakra. But still, it doesn't really make that much of a difference in a taijutsu battle, does it?" the only answer she got was Ranma's trademark smirk.

**((A/N By the way, about this bit of information. I have no idea if that's how it really works. :P Science is neither mine nor my brother's best subject so this is only something we thought of based on what we've read. Please don't assume this is true unless you are sure that it is true. :P))**

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Back at the academy, the students of the graduating class was back in their classroom and listening to Sakura as she explained the different elements and sub-elements. Satsuki, however, was busy thinking about her fight and how she had lost without even touching the still smiling girl who, apparently, sat right next to her in class.

Like earlier, she wasn't listening to the lesson as she already knew it but was instead thinking about the fight. Every punch she threw and every kick she lashed out with was easily dodged by the smiling girl while every punch and every kick sent her way either connected or was blocked. The latter, however, was not without repercussions as she soon found her arms and legs throbbing with pain soon after stopping the attack. Her speed was easily surpassed as was her strength and she quickly found herself tiring in the middle of the fight.

Nothing made sense to her. There was no way that she could be that weak. 'Unless.' Her eyes widened ever so slightly as she came to the only possible conclusion to her defeat. 'Ranma.'

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"RANMA!" Satsuki's voice rang throughout the apartment as the sound of the door slamming against the wall was heard throughout the entire floor. Slamming the door shut, Satsuki entered the apartment and looked around for her target, letting out a curse when she realized that he wasn't there. "Where the hell is he?" As if to answer her question, she spotted a note on the table, taped to a stack of bento boxes. Picking it up, she read the note.

_I've got training until later tonight so I left you some dinner since I might not be able to come back during my dinner break. You can heat it up if you want. I'll see you tonight, or tomorrow morning if you fall asleep before I get back._

Crumpling the note in her hand, Satsuki threw it into the trash before collapsing on the sofa. 'I don't believe this. The one time I want to talk to him and he won't even be back until later tonight. He's so infuriating. I'm surprised that Uzumaki actually lets him do what he wants.'

Satsuki sat there for the next few minutes, going over the battle in her head and trying to figure out why she lost without managing to even touch the girl. 'A genjutsu perhaps? No, that's not right. For one thing, it was a taijutsu only battle. Also she didn't form any handseals and I'm sure I would have noticed a genjutsu if she did manage to put one up.'

As she racked her brain, trying to figure out why she lost to someone who, in her mind, was inferior to her, her eyes kept stealing glances at the table, or rather what was placed on top of it. She couldn't help but lick her lips as she gazed at the object that caught her interest for the moment. She turned away and brought her mind back to reviewing the fight but she kept stealing glances at the table.

She looked up to the clock hanging on the wall and saw that it was only a little past four in the afternoon. 'Why not?' She asked herself, giving in to the temptation that was delicious food. Walking over to the table and resisting the urge to run, she grabbed the top bento box before grabbing a pair of chopsticks that was beside the stack and returning to the sofa. She opened the box and picked something at random before placing it in her mouth. Anyone who could see her at that time could have said that she looked almost, happy.

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It was six hours later that Ranma arrived to find Satsuki sitting on the sofa. She was still awake and looking at him with a glare. "What the hell did you do to me?" She asked, trying her best to restrain her anger. Even she knew that allowing herself to get mad wouldn't help get the answers she wanted.

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

"Don't play dumb with me. You know exactly what I'm talking about."

"No, seriously. What did I do?"

Looking at Ranma's face, Satsuki's knowledge of interrogation came to play and she found none of the signs that told her if someone was lying. "Then do you mind explaining why I lost to an academy student in taijutsu?"

"Wait, wait, wait, hold up there. You lost to an academy student in plain taijutsu?" He asked before continuing as he muttered to himself. "Well that's a surprise. I didn't think she was that weak."

"Are you deaf as well as stupid? I just said that didn't I?"

Her outburst was apparently ignored as Ranma continued muttering to himself. "Maybe she was weaker than I thought. No, I'm usually right about these things. Maybe she just fought someone who was stronger than the average academy student."

"Hey, are you listening to me?"

"Huh? Did you say something?" He asked, oblivious to the veins that were appearing on Satsuki's forehead as he said this. "Sorry, I was busy thinking. What was that you said?"

"I asked if you were listening to me. Obviously you weren't," she replied as she sat back down onto the couch. "So are you going to tell me if you had anything to do with my loss today?"

"Actually, Sakura-san talked to me about it during our lesson this afternoon. And, well, you could say I was partly to blame for that," he replied, reaching into his subspace pocket, pulling out one of the ninjutsu scrolls that Kakashi gave him and taking a seat beside Satsuki. "The reason why you lost that fight was because you had no access to your Chakra."

"And how does that affect my strength and my speed?" Asked Satsuki. She had already thought of that reason but it didn't completely explain everything. "I know that I can't use my chakra to increase my strength and speed but I shouldn't have become that weak."

"Actually, it's because you use your Chakra to enhance your performance that you became weak in the first place."

"I don't follow."

Ranma sighed, knowing that he would have to explain his theory as to why she was weak. It was a theory mainly because he didn't have all the information he needed to see if his assumption was right or not. "How long have you been able to do that?"

"Almost three years. About two months after I started my training under Tsuchikage-sama and Raikage-sama," she replied. "But I don't see what this has to do with anything."

Ignoring her last statement, Ranma asked another question, causing her eye to twitch. "Have you always done that whenever you're training or fighting?"

"Yes but-"

Once again, she was cut off when Ranma asked yet another question, her twitching eye began to twitch even more in annoyance. "Even when you were just running around or maybe lifting weights and other things like that?"

"Yes, now will you-"

"Well then, problem solved," he declared as though already expecting Satsuki to know the answer. "That explains why you're so weak."

"Well?" She asked impatiently after waiting a few minutes.

"Well what?"

"Aren't you going to tell me why I'm this weak?"

Ranma just sighed before lowering the scroll and muttering, "Troublesome," under his breath. 'Great, I'm starting to sound like him and I've only known him for two days.' Shaking his head from its current train of thought, he returned to the matter at hand. "When was the last time you did anything that had to do with training and fighting without using your Chakra to enhance your strength?"

"I haven't stopped doing it from the moment I learned it. That was one way to increase my Chakra reserves. After all, the more Chakra I have the stronger I am."

"Is that what you think?" He asked, almost sounding angry for some reason. "Come with me."

Ranma stood up from the sofa, put away the scroll he was reading and walked to the door, followed closely by Satsuki. He locked the door behind him before walking down to the ground floor and out of the apartment building. As he led Satsuki through the dark streets of Konoha, she couldn't help but feel slightly apprehensive of the dark haired teen. This was the first time that she had seen him this serious. Even when they first spoke inside her cell, he wasn't this serious. 'What I said to him must have brought up a bad topic,' she thought. She couldn't help but feel bad for what she'd done, even though she didn't know why she felt bad.

They continued to walk in silence towards Ranma's destination. The silence was unnerving to Satsuki especially when she was around Ranma. Whenever she was with him, there was never a quiet moment between the two of them. And when they weren't talking or arguing, he was doing it with somebody else. True that she had only been in his care for two days, one of those two days had been spent in the academy away from his presence, but still, to be walking with him and not hearing a single word coming from him was making her grow nervous with each passing minute.

She soon recognized the path they were taking and she was wondering why she was taking him to the training grounds. 'What are we going to do here at night? Surely he isn't going to train? If he was then why ask – no… tell me to come along? Did he choose to bring me here because I said what I did? Is this what this is about? Is he trying to prove me wrong?'

Her mind suddenly began to race as thoughts of what he would do to prove her wrong began to occupy her mind. 'What if he decides to fight me in order to prove it?' She suddenly asked herself as that particular scenario came to mind. 'I won't last a minute in my condition, especially not if he doesn't give me use of my Chakra.'

Regardless of how she acts towards him, she actually respects and fears Ranma's strength. Despite the fact that her Armor of Invulnerability was still active during her battle with Naruto, he managed to gather the necessary strength needed to actually press the pressure point on her neck. That alone spoke volumes of his physical strength. Before she could go further with her thoughts, they arrived at the edge of one of Konoha's training grounds. From where they were they could hear the sound of someone counting out loud at a rapid pace. "… 951, 952, 953, 954, 955…"

"We're here," said Ranma as he continued to walk towards where the voice was coming from. Once they got to the clearing, Satsuki saw the source of the voice. "Good evening Lee-san," greeted Ranma in his normal tone. "I was looking for you."

"Ah, good evening Ranma, 977, 978," replied Lee, while still counting as he did one-handed push-ups on his fingers, much to Satsuki's surprise. "Why were you looking for me? 979, 980, did you perhaps wish to show me how much the flames of youth have grown within you? 981, 982, 983…"

A sweatdrop began to makes its way down the back of Ranma's head as he chuckled nervously. "Actually, I brought someone with me. This is Satsuki. I'm sure you've heard about her from Naruto-san."

"Of course, 993, 994" Began Lee, still doing his push-ups at an incredible rate, pausing only when he would speak. "Did you wish for her to see my flames of-"

Ranma cut him off and said in a firm voice, "She says that the more Chakra she has, then the stronger she is."

That statement seems to have gotten Lee's attention as he paused just before hitting the one thousand mark. Pushing off the ground, Lee stood erect as he turned to face Ranma and Satsuki. "Do you really think that?" He asked with a serious tone, a tone that his friends knew he used only when dealing with a serious situation, someone who insulted his sensei, someone who insulted his friends, or someone who said things similar to what Satsuki said. "Do you honestly believe that the one with more Chakra will be victorious in a battle?"

"I have yet to see someone who can do otherwise so therefore it must be true," she stated firmly but in her mind, she knew that it wouldn't always hold true, especially now. She had heard about him of course, Lee Rock, the taijutsu master of Konoha as well as his sensei, Gai Maito, also a taijutsu master. Both were formidable in taijutsu but the former had one problem. His body generated only enough Chakra to allow him to live, this made him unable to use any form of genjutsu or ninjutsu.

"Well then, I shall prove you wrong," declared Lee, now back to using his usual tone of voice. "I shall prove to you that anything can be overcome with the flames of youth as well as hardwork."

"Just for tonight," began Ranma, turning to face Satsuki. "And only for this fight, I'll give you back the use of all your Chakra. Of course, it goes without saying that if you try to run, attack me, attack the village or anything of that sort then I'll take it all away in an instant. Understood?"

Satsuki just nodded, hardly able to believe what she was hearing. She was about to get a chance to have all her Chakra returned to her. Never mind the fact that it will be taken away again. 'At least I'll get to have some fun in the meantime. I wonder if he'll let me fight like this more often if I behave.'

The sudden rush of Chakra caused her to gasp lightly. Having spent five days with barely any Chakra then suddenly having all of it returned in one second would do that to just about anyone. "Alright, you're good to go," said Ranma, stepping aside as Lee got into a stance. "I'm warning you now Satsuki. Lee-san is the worst possible match-up for you. I wouldn't suggest holding back against him, not matter how strong you think you are."

Satsuki didn't understand what Ranma meant but nodded just the same. 'All I'll need to do is activate my bloodline to its fullest then this will be all over.' She waited for Ranma to give the signal to begin as she and Lee appraised each other. The moment Ranma yelled for the to begin, she formed the necessary handseals and called out, "Secret Technique: Armor of Invulnerability."

She felt her Chakra being drained as soon as she used the technique as it began to reinforce her skin, making her more resistant to damage of all kinds. Almost as soon as she did, Lee appeared right in front of her and she received a solid punch to her abdomen, lifting her off the ground by nearly a foot. She only grinned when she felt nothing before sending a straight punch to Lee's unguarded face.

When Lee didn't move after receiving the punch, Satsuki assumed that he had already been knocked out. Barely a second after the thought entered her mind, Lee pulled his head back and delivered a headbutt aimer for her closed fist. Satsuki had to stifle a gasp when Lee's head made contact with her fist. Not only was her arm pushed back but she actually felt a little pain from the impact.

Lee quickly grabbed her by the leg and slammed her into the ground before casually tossing her over his shoulder. He didn't need to look to know that Satsuki landed on her feet. He disappeared in a blink of an eye and reappeared in front of Satsuki just as she turned around. She received a knee to the gut, one that actually hurt, followed by a jab in the same area that knocked the wind out of her.

She was sent skidding back after that punch and she dropped to her knee soon after she stopped. 'How?' She asked herself as she coughed a few times, trying to get her breath back. 'I shouldn't have been hurt by those attacks. No one could possibly be this strong without Chakra.'

Her thoughts were broken when Lee charged towards her once again. She dodged to the left and prepared to attack when Lee reappeared in front of her. This time, he swept her legs right out from underneath her followed by a kick that sent her flying back and smashing into a tree. While smashing into a tree didn't hurt her, the kick did. She was trying to push herself away from the tree when Lee delivered a low roundhouse to her abdomen once more, sending her through the tree and skidding along the ground behind it.

Satsuki coughed out some blood as she struggled to stand up, experiencing for the very first time the taste of her own blood. She had never been subjected to this kind of pain while in a fight after her training was complete. True, she had been subjected to the pain of the seal that was placed on her by the Tsuchikage, but that had only happened once. The pain she was feeling now was nothing compared to that but still, pain is pain and right now, she was feeling it all over her body.

"Still think you can beat him?" Asked a voice from right beside her.

"Shut up," she managed to gasp out despite the pain she was in.

"You really should know when to give up," said Ranma as he watched the fight from a tree. He had gestured to Lee to stop for the moment, which he complied with. "Sometimes losing is the only way to survive."

"It doesn't matter," gasped out Satsuki amidst her coughing fits. "To a shinobi, completion of the mission is the most important. The lives of my comrades or my own always come second."

"That's stupid," scoffed Ranma, causing Satsuki to turn and face him with what appeared to be a curious and angry look on her face. "Survival should be the first thing on your mind. If you die then the mission fails, plain and simple. If you and your friends live, then there's still a chance to complete the mission."

"If they die then it's their fault for not being strong enough to survive," she replied, not really denying Ranma's statement.

"How do you know that they weren't counting on you to protect them?" He asked in response to her statement. "Someone strong, just like a Kage, will always have a responsibility. Whether or not they choose to follow that responsibility is their choice. Much like a team, a Kage is sure to expect the shinobi under his command to help him in a fight without being told to. Just as this is true for all five Kages, their shinobi also expects their Kage to protect them when needed. If the Kage doesn't protect his army, then how will he fight a war?"

"Just as all shinobi, regardless of rank, have a responsibility to their superiors and followers, a martial artist like me also has a responsibility. I chose to follow that responsibility ever since I was young. It's the harder path of course but then again, what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger but only if you learn from it."

"So you're saying that by jumping off a cliff and surviving, I can become stronger?"

A sweatdrop rolled down the back of Ranma's head at that question but he answered it just the same. "Like I said, only if you learn from it. Of course, the only thing you could learn from that is not to do it voluntarily otherwise you could end up dead the next time."

Satsuki became quiet after that. "Tell me something," She said after a few minutes have passed. "Why am I so weak?"

Unseen by Satsuki, Ranma gave her a smile and a nod to Lee. Lee returned the nod and gave Ranma the nice-guy pose and returned to the clearing where he was doing push-ups. Sealing away most of her Chakra, Ranma knelt down in front of her and helped her get onto his back. As he carried her back to his apartment, he answers her question. "The reason you're weak," he begins, instantly getting her attention, "Is because you rely too much on your Chakra. Using Chakra isn't bad and all but something like that should be used to complement your own abilities."

"For example, if you're fast but physically weak, then you should use Chakra to enhance your strength. If you're strong but not fast enough to hit your target, then you should use Chakra to increase your speed. If you're already strong and fast, then use Chakra to make yourself even stronger and faster. Lee-san can't use Chakra, which is why he makes up for it by working hard so that he doesn't need Chakra to enhance his abilities."

"What about-"

"Techniques?" Finished Ranma, already knowing what she wanted to ask. "Just like with Chakra, you should use techniques to complement your strength. For example, since I specialize in taijutsu most of the techniques I know are long-range techniques. Of course, I only use them if I can't get close to my target."

"So like I was saying, the main reason you're weak is that you depend on your Chakra too much. Lee-san, Gai-san and myself rely more on our own bodies, which is why we have to strengthen our muscles. In fact if you're not careful, you might injure yourself one day."

"Injure myself?"

"The reason why taijutsu specialists train so hard is so that they won't hurt themselves when fighting. If you move fast, whether it's your own speed or you enhance your speed, you still use your muscles. Because you're using your Chakra to enhance your muscles, allowing you to move fast, there isn't much of a strain. But eventually your Chakra will diminish, making it harder for you to move that fast after a while. During that time, you start to strain your muscles just like anybody else. The problem is, your muscles aren't used to going at that kind of speed without being strengthened by Chakra."

"So if I keep going at that speed then I'll eventually hurt myself because I strained my muscles too much? Much more than they could normally take?" Asked Satsuki, seeing where the conversation was leading. "Is that what you're trying to say?"

"That's right," exclaimed Ranma. "You're starting to understand it better. Of course, it's not just your arm and leg muscles that are at risk. But I'll explain that another time. What I'm trying to say is that you're weak because you are weak in a sense. Your muscles aren't developed enough for you to move as fast as you want. You got used to moving quickly with Chakra that you're actually starting to think that you're slower when in fact you were always that slow. The same goes for your strength as well. You were always that slow and weak, you just thought you were stronger because you enhanced your performance with Chakra."

What Ranma had said gave Satsuki something to think about on their way back to his apartment. One of the older shinobi in Iwa once told her, "Your greatest enemy will always be yourself. It is the only obstacle in life that can never be defeated. Even if you defeat it once, there will come a time when it will return. It is a never ending battle against one's self and it only becomes harder and harder as time passes."

'Is this what he meant? Did he mean that no matter how much I train or how strong I become, that I will always be faced by my own limitations? But then, how do I surpass my own limits? How can I strengthen my own body when I don't even know how?'

Satsuki resisted the urge to repeatedly slam her head against something hard when she realized that the answer was both right underneath her nose and was in front of her the whole time, literally. 'Of course, he said it himself. He's a taijutsu specialist so he should know. Then again, it's very unlikely that he's going to help me since I'm an enemy of Konoha. But still, maybe I can convince him that I won't use it against Konoha or something. Although I doubt he's that gullible.'

Taking a deep breath and preparing for a long discussion, Satsuki asked, "Can you help me?"

"Huh? Help you with what? Do you need to go to the bathroom or something?"

"Well I do but-" She stopped immediately and shook her head, trying to figure out why her mind moved to that topic so suddenly. "No, not with that. I want to become stronger and… I want you to help me." She watched as Ranma seemed to contemplate the idea in his head. 'Here it comes,' she thought. She could already hear him saying no for the reason that she was an enemy of Konoha.

"Sure, I'll train you."

"Look, I promise I wont- wait, what?" The look on her face gave away the fact that she was surprised and perplexed at Ranma's answer.

"I said I'll train you. What? Are you deaf as well as stupid?"

She ignored the taunt in place of figuring out his reasoning for training her like she'd wanted. "Wh-why? Aren't you worried? I'm an enemy of Konoha. Doesn't that mean anything to you?"

In turn, Ranma looked at her over his shoulder and asked another question. "Don't you think that if it meant anything to me then you'd already be dead?" Looking back the way he was walking, he continued speaking. "Look, to me it doesn't matter which side you belong to or who you're trying to kill. One thing I've learned these past two years is that everybody is entitled to do what they want."

"To be honest you could kill Naruto-san and I wouldn't really blame you for it." At this point Satsuki widened her eyes a bit, surprised to hear him saying those words. "Sure you'd be a murderer but, hey, it was your choice. Don't get me wrong though. I'm not saying that it's the right thing to do, just that you're entitled to do what you want with your life. The concept of right and wrong differs from one person to another. Maybe for you, killing Naruto-san is the right way to avenge your father's death. For me, killing is wrong and should only be used when there is no other option."

"So then-"

"Look, all I'm saying is that unless you do something that I can't forgive then I'm going to keep giving you a chance. Everyone deserves a second chance, sometimes even a third. You haven't really done anything that I can't forgive or anything close to that."

"But I thought you disliked killing?"

"That's true. But here where there are thousands of ninjas, can I really stop them all?" He asked as he turned to her with a small smile. "Killing is the way of life for a shinobi so I can't really stop you. It's like asking me not to use my art to protect people and asking me to kill on a whim like a ninja instead. I can let it go when they kill but there is one kind of person who I won't forgive. Those people are the people who kill for entertainment, regardless of the fact that the ones they're killing are innocent or not. Not only that but I also can't stand it when someone hurts a kid."

"Even if I happen to be that child?"

"Even if that child was you," he replied without hesitation. "It doesn't matter to me if that kid happened to be a thief or maybe he even killed his parents or his family."

"Why is that? And what if that child actually enjoyed it when he killed his family?"

"It's simple. It's because he is a kid." He didn't need to look to know that Satsuki just became more confused that she was just then. "No matter what they've been through, a kid will always be just that, a kid. No matter how much they say that a kid was forced to grow up too quickly, no matter how much I say that about you, I know one thing for certain. While they've grown up mentally, they don't have the needed experience to act like an adult all of the time. There will be times when they know what they are talking about but they are still kids just the same."

"So you're saying that I'm just a kid?"

"Yup," Ranma replied with a smile while Satsuki frowned. "But I'm not talking about the kind of kid that just runs around making noise and having fun."

"Then what do you mean?"

Satsuki didn't realize it until that moment that they were already inside Ranma's apartment, specifically the bedroom. Ranma knelt down with his back to the bed and let Satsuki slide off him onto the bed. Turning to Satsuki, he said, "I'll let you figure that out for yourself. After all," He paused as he walked towards the door. "You are a kid and a smart one at that. You'll find the answer, I'm sure of it."

"Stop calling me a kid."

"If you say so, Sat.su.ki.chan" He pronounced her name one syllable at a time before quickly leaving the room and shutting the door behind him, barely avoiding the kunai that she had thrown as it embedded itself on the doorframe.

Satsuki sighed before slowly getting up and walking to the bathroom to clean herself up. Afterwards she walked out, changed into something more comfortable for the night, turned off the lights and got into bed. Right after she did that, the door opened and Ranma stuck his head into the room. "Goodnight Satsuki-chan." Ignoring the suffix at the end of her name, Satsuki just grunted in annoyance before Ranma closed the door.

"… You are so annoying."

_END CHAPTER_

**And this is the end for this chapter. So how was it? Please click on the 'GO' button at the bottom of the page and tell us what you think of this chapter. Like it? Hate it? Love it? Despise it? Comment? Suggestion? Flames? Criticisms? Any and all is welcome as nothing you say can discourage us, only motivate us to write better, if we can.**

**Until the next chapter then.**


	21. Arc 2 Chapter 11

Terms of Engagement

Terms of Engagement

By Overlord of Order and Overlord of Chaos

**SUMMARY: What if many of the on-goings involving Genma and Nodoka was all a hoax? What if most of what they've said was a lie? What reason could they have to lie to so many people? What does it have to do with Ranma's future?**

_**KuroNeko:**__** Thanks for that and yes, I appreciate feedback on all aspects no matter how small. I've already corrected those sentences. Thanks again. As for the punctuation marks, I guess I'm forgetful that way. I'll try and remember to put it this time.**_

_**foesjoe:**__** I can see what you're getting at but it won't change. I know that he didn't hesitate to kill Saffron and that he accepted that killing him was the only way to save Akane at that time. But if you go back to Chapter 8 of this arc and read through the fight with Sakura, you'll find out why I'm making him act this way. He accepts that death is a part of life and that sometimes he will be forced to kill in order to protect someone, just like when he killed Saffron. He's not afraid of killing but he's afraid of the possibility that he would one day enjoy killing. Also, I'm not trying to relay the message to you or the other people reading this fic but he is relaying that fact to Satsuki and explaining his views on killing. **_

_**As to writing in present and past tense, I'd prefer it if you or someone explained why I shouldn't do it. I've read a lot of books and I've seen a sentence switching from past to present tense in the middle of the sentence. You're the only one so far who's said anything about this so I'm just curious as to why you consider it an error. **_

_**If it really is wrong then please explain to me why it's wrong. But if it's just an inconvenience to you when you read then all I can ask if that you bear with it. Sorry if it sounds harsh or anything close to that but I'd really prefer it if you explained it instead of just pointing it out. It makes it easier to correct if needed. Still, thanks.**_

_**request:**__** Sorry, no chance of getting a pic out of me. Seriously, I suck when it comes to drawing people, animals and such. **_

_Arc 2: Ninja Training_

_Chapter 11: Exam Preparations_

Satsuki grunted in pain when her back made contact with a nearby tree just moments before she pushed off and a fist punched right through the trunk of the tree. 'I can't believe I'm actually doing this,' she thought as she raised her arms to block a kick only to discover it to be a feint and receive an elbow to the gut followed by an uppercut that knocked her off her feet. 'He's a monster and yet he's still holding back and pulling his punches at the last second. Am I really so weak?'

She didn't have time to answer her own question as she ducked beneath a kick that could have taken her head off. Instead of her head, the kick broke off the top of the training post that was right behind her, sending the broken piece flying into the distance. She gulped involuntary, suddenly wondering what would have happened if she got hit by that kick.

"You're still telegraphing your moves," commented Ranma as he appeared right in front of Satsuki. "You're either blocking or dodging too soon, leaving me enough time to change my plan."

"I wouldn't be doing that if I had access to my Chakra," replied Satsuki as she collapsed on the ground on her back due to fatigue. "But no," she drawled out, "You wanted me to train my body, so I asked you to help me with that. But then what do you do? You try to kill me. Yeah, this is very easy."

"If I wanted to kill you then you'd already be dead," he replied as he ignored Satsuki's sarcastic tone and placed a bottle of water beside Satsuki's supine form. "Besides, one of the most important parts of your training isn't something you can achieve without literally fighting for it."

Curious as to what that may be, she asked, "And what might that be?"

"That's going to be a secret for now," was the reply she received. "But like I said last month, you'll figure it out."

Indeed, it had been a month since Ranma had agreed to train Satsuki. Everyday Satsuki would run two laps around Konoha, which, to her, was torture. She would usually finish with enough time to shower before she would go to the academy. She and Ranma would also spar whenever he had the time. They also sparred before Ranma, sometimes Ranma-chan, would work at the restaurant, something that she found amusing.

Ranma had also given Satsuki one of his older weight vests after having it repaired. It was smaller than the one he was using so it fit her better. The vest was still light, compared to what Ranma started out with, but he added a few pounds whenever she started getting used to the weight, which happened every two days, sometimes everyday. The weights he added went unnoticed as it was only a small amount but it served its purpose for her training.

It was obvious to him that Satsuki didn't understand the use of training with weights. Everyday she questioned how being burdened by the vest would help her become stronger as opposed to making her slower and everyday he answered with the same four words, "You'll figure it out."

The training went smoothly up until Naruto caught wind of it. Needless to say that saying he was mad would be one of the greatest understatements of all time. Just like all their arguments, Ranma and Naruto argued over the matter up until one of three things happened. One, either Naruto or Ranma gave in to the other. Two, one of the two _grudgingly_ accepted or agreed with what the other was saying. Or three, they just ignored what the other said.

This time it was number three. In the middle of Naruto's rant, Ranma slipped away unnoticed which caused the blonde Hokage to yell loud enough to be heard all over the continent. Hinata later heard him muttering to himself. "This must have been what the old hag went through with me."

Satsuki's time at the academy was no different than usual. Most of the time she was bored out of her mind but sometimes she was motivated just enough to actually participate. Her taijutsu showed no real progress, mainly because of the weights, while her use of the three basic techniques were normal, meaning it was nothing special.

In terms of ninjutsu, Ranma had allowed her enough Chakra to be able to use a few of her lower level techniques such as the Underground Fish Projection, Inner Decapitation, Hiding Mist, Lightning Shot, and Palm Eruption techniques. Although, she could only use two to three techniques before she runs low on Chakra.

On a side note, Ranma's own training has been progressing very quickly. While the strange barrier Happosai put around Ranma to absorb the emotion in his Chi was still in place, Ranma was getting closer and closer to breaking through. He could now use his Chi without the aid of emotions and maintain it for hours but his techniques still needed work. Chi blasts only lasted for around ten meters before it would begin to dissipate and another ten before it dissipated completely while other techniques, asides from the Heavenly Dragon Ascension Wave, were impossible at his current level.

Within that month, Kakashi had taught Ranma all he could in terms of ninjutsu and the elements they could control. He passed on many techniques to Ranma that he said would go well with his fighting style. While he only had a few wind techniques to teach Ranma, he had taught him several of each element just in case.

Kurenai had taught Ranma a large number of genjutsu when she realized that he had a high affinity for illusions. Ranma even said that perhaps it was because many of his father's teachings regarding the Anything Goes revolved around deception that he could easily pick up on the genjutsu lessons.

His sessions with Ino were cut short when she had to leave on another mission but had made significant progress. He could now bear with having a cat nearby, just not touching him. When she left, Neji and Kiba had returned to helping him with stealth and tracking at night while Ranma continued to play Shogi against Shikamaru before dinner. In the end, it was the two of them and Shino Aburame who tested him on his knowledge in the given subject.

While Ranma's tracking still needed some work, he was good enough for someone who didn't have enhanced senses. His stealth, on the other hand, was good, according to the trio when they reported to Naruto. Ranma had not used the Way of the Silent Thief mainly because of the drawback of leaving the place where he was hiding devoid of anything. Anyone who could sense Chakra or Chi could easily notice that there was nothing there, which was strange given that there was Chi in the air itself.

Even when Neji and Kiba left for their mission, Ranma worked on hiding his presence the way he normally did, by suppressing his Chi. But now that he had Chakra to work with as well, he had to suppress that as well. By the time that Naruto asked the trio to test Ranma, he had already managed to learn how to sense the energy in the air and suppress his own just right to match his surroundings. Moving swiftly and silently was another easy task for Ranma given who trained him in the past. Although, hiding his scent was a different matter altogether, which was what brought their opinion down but not by so much.

Hinata and Sakura had also passed him on medical techniques, stating that he had learned all that he would need in the foreseeable future and that he would not need to know how to perform surgery. By that time, he could already heal all kinds of minor wounds and some major ones. He also learned how to diagnose a person, how to draw out poison, how to make antidotes for certain poisons and how to create chakra scalpels.

Both had also commended him on the fact that he could not only learn so much in a short time but also attain the necessary level of Chakra Control to perform those techniques. The latter was of course attributed to his prior training with another form of energy, namely Chi. His test had been to help them both at the hospital for one day where he would be doing most of the healing while Sakura or Hinata stood back to watch and would jump in if anything unexpected happened or if something went wrong.

His weekly meetings with Sakura to train inside her pocket dimension, as he called it, were going well. He would fight against shinobi that Sakura would call upon for him to fight. Some of them were younger versions of the Konoha 11 and some were random shinobi from other countries to allow Ranma to familiarize himself with their abilities. Sometimes he had to lead a group of random shinobi and either take out a target, attack a base or escape from a situation. He was graded based on completion time and amount of casualties on both sides, points for taking out an enemy and deductions for letting a teammate die or receiving a severe amount of damage.

One of the hardest scenarios that Sakura had thought of was for Ranma to fight against an entire army by himself. Until he managed to take out the leader, who always stayed at the back of the army, then Sakura would keep making enemies appear for Ranma to fight. She didn't explain the importance of that scenario, just that it was a necessary trial for him.

His best record was knocking out roughly 800 enemy shinobi and making it a third of the way to the leader from his starting position, which was roughly twenty miles from his starting point. Given that the shinobi were all Jounin level, he couldn't simply ignore them and run straight for the leader. And he knew that the only reason why he could even defeat those 800 shinobi was that he had unlimited Chi and Chakra reserves.

His sessions with Shikamaru, well… the best way to describe Ranma's current skill at Shogi would be to listen to what Satsuki said one night after a record of losing in only five moves. "You suck."

Although her statement was true for that particular moment, Shikamaru had noticed something that she did not. "It's true, that move did suck. But if you were playing against somebody else you could have won easily. Next time, don't purposely open yourself up just to win. It's a gamble you can't take in real life, especially in a war, unless you plan on losing your life if it fails." After that Ranma continued to lose game after game but he lasted longer by a move or two the more games he played excluding the occasional gamble where he would lose at least twice as fast, save for one special occasion.

_FLASHBACK_

Ranma looked down at the shogi board. It was obvious to even a beginner that Ranma was losing. Well, losing being quite an understatement as he only had four pieces left on the board. It was definitely good fortune on his part that he still hadn't lost. But as usual, Ranma wouldn't just take the loss lying down. He'd go on for as long as he can before he finally went down.

However, even he knew that he couldn't possibly escape defeat with only four pieces while Shikamaru had only lost five of his own. "Hurry up," stated Shikamaru lazily, obviously trying to be demanding. Trying being the operative word. "I want to get back to watching the clouds while I still can."

"Alright already," replied Ranma, reaching with his hand to pick up one of his four remaining pieces. "I was just thinking about – oh hey Ino-san, Chouji-san." He suddenly pulled his hand back, instead raising it up to wave at the two people behind Shikamaru.

Shikamaru sighed, wondering what Ino and Chouji were doing there. 'Probably looking for me,' he mused lazily. 'How troublesome.' He sighed again and addressed the two while turning around. "Alright, what do you two-"

He paused abruptly upon seeing that there was nobody there. He wondered whether or not Ranma had really seen them but once again, found it too troublesome. He turned back to the game to see what Ranma's move was only to gape at the sight before him, causing the cigarette in his mouth to fall out. Where he was only one move away from victory, he was now only one move away from defeat. All his pieces, save for his King, had disappeared from the board and were replaced by Ranma's pieces.

"…" he looked up from the board to the innocent face of Ranma. Too innocent.

Beside Ranma, Satsuki slapped her face. "You couldn't win normally so you cheated?" she asked incredulously, wondering whether or not she should hit him for doing something like that. "Don't tell me you thought it was legal to distract your opponent then his pieces with yours."

This time, it was Ranma's turn to give Satsuki an unbelieving look. "You mean you can't do that? But pops and Tendo-san always did that when they played Shogi."

Satsuki couldn't believe she was actually hearing that. She was about to tell him off when Shikamaru beat her to it. "Actually, what he did would be considered a legal move," he said, earning Ranma and Satsuki's attention, the latter surprised once more at what she was hearing. "While in Shogi it is illegal, in real life it is very much legal to do so."

"But you're playing Shogi," countered Satsuki.

"To learn all about strategy," Shikamaru replied calmly and lazily. "He's not here to just learn how to play Shogi. He's here to learn strategy. What he did could be considered strategy in real life. Redirecting your opponent's attention elsewhere then changing the flow of the battle while he is distracted is a common, yet seldom used tactic because of its simplicity."

"You win this time," he finished with a sigh. Ranma grinned, having won his first game against the genius strategist. "But next time, don't do that." That brought took down his grin.

_END FLASHBACK_

Satsuki sighed in annoyance, something she seemed to be doing ever since she started living with Ranma. "You're so annoying."

"And you're a kid," replied Ranma with a grin. "Anyway, let's head back. You definitely don't want to go to the academy looking and smelling like that."

Satsuki just growled in response, not wanting to remember the first, and hopefully last, time she rushed to the academy after training with Ranma. After a moment, she stood up and walked alongside Ranma back to their apartment. It was strange that she had started calling it their apartment instead of his only a week into her stay. But it was more than just that. In only a month, so many of her views regarding Ranma and the village had changed.

Where she once saw a village full of weak shinobi who let their sentiments get in get in the way of their work, she now saw shinobi who would die for their comrades. Where she saw academy shinobi who knew nothing about killing, she now saw children who were making use of their time left as ordinary children. Where she saw lazy shinobi, she now saw it the way Ranma had said, people who tried to make the best life possible before their inevitable death.

While essentially the same, the way she saw things were now different. Seeing those people from the perspective she was given had allowed her to see past some of the illusions they put up to make other shinobi underestimate them, regardless of how well known they are.

She remembered reading about Gai Maito, Konoha's rather eccentric taijutsu master, and his student, Lee Rock, who was also a taiutsu master, was supposedly on par with his sensei and was just as eccentric as his sensei. At first she thought nothing of them and simply thought that her bloodline would be enough to take care of them. The night after Ranma had personally introduced her to Lee disproved that fact immediately. But upon seeing Ranma and Lee spar one Saturday afternoon, she immediately realized that Lee was nowhere near full power that night.

The next week, it was a fight between Ranma and Gai. She had expected another taijutsu fight and wasn't surprised when both did as she expected. She was surprised when Gai suddenly began to form handseals at a rapid pace followed quickly by Ranma. Both ended at about the same time as Gai blew out a fire dragon while a water dragon shot out of the nearby river to douse the fire dragon. There had been nothing in the file about Gai ever using ninjutsu. Of course they knew that he could open the Gates and that he could use Chakra, unlike his student, but the use of ninjutsu was another matter altogether.

The fact that he could use ninjutsu meant that they had underestimated the Konoha-nin known as Gai Maito. She wondered exactly how much they had underestimated the village of Konoha and its inhabitants.

And if that wasn't enough, just the previous weekend the Hokage himself went to the training field and fought Ranma-chan one-on-one. Ranma-chan, who was obviously female at that time, accepted eagerly. Although Naruto told Ranma-chan that she could pick a partner, the latter declined and opted to fight the Sixth Hokage by herself. After hearing that, Satsuki was certain that it would be a short fight. She was once again proven wrong when she felt the power of the Nine-tails coming from Naruto even before the fight began. What was more surprising was that Ranma-chan seemed to be on par with Naruto, who was using one tail's worth of power from the demon within him.

The fight only ended when a second tail sprouted from the base of Naruto's spine and his power increased, giving him the necessary power boost to knock Ranma-chan out, but not without having to try to hit the elusive redhead first. Although she could no longer hit Naruto without having to receive more damage in return, she was still incredibly hard to hit given her amazing speed while in female form.

Satsuki shook herself out of her musings when they finally arrived at the apartment complex where they lived. As usual, she went straight to the bathroom to take a shower while Ranma prepared her lunch, which was now composed of four boxes instead of three like her first day. Satsuki had been asking why he always prepared so much for her but he never gave a straight answer. Even though she complained about the amount of food from time to time, she always finished it all, something that surprised even her.

Stepping out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel, Satsuki went through her morning routine while Ranma went through his. Had anyone been watching, they would have noticed that both occupants of the apartment moved with practiced ease around the apartment. Even without looking, both Ranma and Satsuki managed to move around each other and avoid any accidents while getting their respective tasks done. He held out Satsuki's lunch behind him just as Satsuki walked past him towards the door. "Have a good day," he called out to which she just nodded in return before walking out of the apartment.

Satsuki began her trek towards the academy, not wanting to waste another day learning useless things when she could be training. As much as she didn't want to admit it, she enjoyed training with Ranma. There was just something about the aquatransexual martial artist that made training more enjoyable. While she may not say or do anything to indicate it, she always looked forward to their next training session.

Along the way to the academy was the Aburame compound so she would usually end up walking to the academy with the silent Aburame. She enjoyed the company of the girl as she was mostly quiet and didn't speak much, just like all the Aburames Satsuki knew. When she did speak, she would only say a few words but enough to get her point across. Well, as direct to the point as an Aburame could be at least.

Just as she walked past the gates of the compound, Shizuka stepped out and began to walk towards the academy alongside Satsuki. Perhaps it was simply coincidence that she would step out of the gates just in time to walk alongside the eight-year old girl, but Satsuki didn't buy it. She found it hard to believe that such a thing could be a coincidence, especially since it happened everyday they had to go to the academy, but she couldn't find any reason for it not to be. After all, what reason would Shizuka have to wait for her to walk past before coming out of the compound?

With only a few minutes to spare, the silent pair arrived at the academy and made their way to their classroom where Sakura was already waiting. While they were free to pick their seats, Satsuki always, somehow, ends up sitting right next to Hisami, the girl with the smile. For some reason, Satsuki always felt nervous around the girl. Maybe it was the fact that there were rumors that she was always smiling, even when she was asleep. She had heard about that rumor from one of her classmates who answered her question, which she had asked Shizuka. "Why is she always smiling?"

Nobody really knows why she was always smiling, just that she had always been like that since she joined the academy the previous year. Another thing that interested Satsuki was the fact that Hisami lived with Naruto and his family. Apparently, Naruto had taken her in and was acting as her guardian while they look for her family. While most of the students thought that she would meet her parents soon, Satsuki and a few others who were raised by shinobi families and have heard of the darker side of the world, suspected that her parents might be dead or worse, left _her_ for dead. Satsuki was fairly sure that Hisami had heard those words several times but because of the smile on her face, neither Satsuki nor anyone else knew how she truly felt.

Taking her seat, besides Hisami, Satsuki sighed as Sakura called out their names one by one, raising her own hand when her name was called. "Alright," began Sakura once she determined that all the students were present. "As most of you are probably aware, there is only one month left before the Final Exam. For those who don't know why let me explain."

"While I'm sure all of you will pass the exam, the Jounin instructor you will be assigned to will have different standards, some higher than others. How they determine whether you are up to those standards after your graduation will be up to them. But if they decide that you are not up to those standards then they can send you back to the academy for another two months."

Those who were aware of this took it well. However, there were several cries of outrage from those who didn't know about this fact. It was something that was changed during the war against Oto when they needed more shinobi helping inside the city while others fought against the enemy shinobi. Even during their recovery after the war, they kept the policy to allow their shinobi population to grow for the war against Iwa and Kumo. Of course, only Naruto knew the real reason for this.

After a few minutes, everyone quieted down enough for Sakura to speak once again. "This is to separate those who are ready to become shinobi from those who need more training. Jounin are more experienced and know what to look for in a shinobi."

"So why can't you do it sensei?" Asked one of the students.

"It's because my methods may not be the best way to prepare you for the world of the shinobi," she replied to the student with a neutral look. "Some methods are harsh, such as mine, and let me tell you that my method may very well be one of the harshest of them all."

Many of her students gave her skeptical looks until one of them gathered the courage to speak. "But, you don't look like the harsh kind of sensei."

Sakura prepared to reply but was beaten to it. "Those are the most dangerous kinds of shinobi there are," said Satsuki. "Just because she appears harmless does not mean that she is any less of a shinobi than others. She may very well be the most dangerous of them all because of this. As shinobi, we must always hide our strength and only show what we want our enemies to see, making them underestimate us. The fact that you underestimate your own sensei, who is not only a Jounin but a medic-nin as well, means that you've already lost should you attempt to fight her."

"In fact," she continued, "A medic-nin may very well be the most dangerous opponent short of having to fight one of the nine tailed beasts or a kage. They can heal their own injuries if given the chance, and they know the human body inside and out. Nothing short of knocking them out, killing them with a single blow, or waiting for them to exhaust their Chakra reserves will end the battle."

"Satsuki is right," said Sakura before the older student could respond. "She is also another good example. Simply because she is only eight years old doesn't mean that she is weaker than you. Who knows, maybe she's actually strong enough to take on the Hokage." While the whole class laughed at this, Satsuki simply buried her face in her arms, groaned and lamented over the fact that what Sakura said was true. "Alright, let's get back on track. For today we'll practice Chakra Control. When I call your name, come up to the front and walk up the wall and stay on the ceiling for a minimum of one minute." Drawing a name from the box on the table, Sakura called out the name. "Satsuki Saotome."

Groaning at the constant reminder of her new name, Satsuki walked to the front and began walking up the wall with a sigh. 'When will this nightmare end?'

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Punching a bandit in the face, Ranma-chan spun around with a kick to the jaw of the one that tried to sneak up on her. "This is boring," she sighed. "Hey sensei, can't we get a better mission than this? Bandits aren't really much of a challenge. Can't we get a mission like that last one to Suna?"

Kurenai just sighed as she dodged a knife stab before she stabbed the bandit's arm with her own and shoved him away. "No, we can't," she replied patiently, knowing exactly how Ranma-chan and her other charges felt at the moment. "The only reason why Hokage-sama gave us that mission was because Kakashi and I were there just in case something happened. He also wanted to test your abilities. While you may be ready for higher level missions, Kaname, Misami and Fujitaka aren't nearly as ready to take on enemy shinobi."

"So they're ready, but not ready enough?"

"That's right," replied the crimson eyed Jounin as she and Ranma-chan ran deeper into the bandit's underground base. "The main question is whether or not they're ready to face death. And you know I don't mean that they're going to die."

"I know," said the fiery haired martial artist. "But still, if you ask me it would be better that they freeze up when you're around then when they're alone or without someone to watch they're backs."

"I can understand your reasoning but the decision ultimately falls to Naruto. You know how he is." Remembering something, she quickly changed the topic. "By the way, I have good news."

"Really?" Ranma-chan's eyes brightened up just as she knocked out a bandit that came out of the corner. "What is it?"

"The Chuunin Exams are in three days," she announced, launching several shuriken to disable a group of bandits that suddenly came up from behind them. "Given that we've completed more than 50 D-rank missions and 20 C-rank missions, this team is already qualified to enter the exams."

"Wait, so there are a required number of missions before they can join?"

"For the Genin of Konoha, yes," she said as she recalled the reason why Tsunade, the Fifth Hokage and Naruto's predecessor, put that requirement into play. "The main reason for that necessary qualification is to give the Genins more experience. Some Genin teams receive few missions but train more while others train less but have more experience. However, for the Chuunin exams, having one but not the other is sure to cause great difficulty."

"As a result, Tsunade-sama, the Godaime Hokage, made it a requirement to prevent potential Chuunins from Konoha from dying during the exam. Yes Ranma, you heard me right," she said quickly, keeping Ranma-chan from asking the question at the tip of her tongue. "Some die because they don't know when to quit, others because of lack of training or even by accident. It's also been known for the Jounin instructors to tell their students to kill the Genins from other villages to prevent them from growing strong enough to be a threat to them in the future."

"Even-"

"Even Konoha, if necessary," she cut in once again. "Konoha is more or less like any other shinobi village. We do what we have to in order to protect the village. While others are willing to go to war to permanently remove the threat of another village, we would only do that if it were absolutely necessary."

Ranma-chan was silent for a good minute or two before she made a comment. "It's quiet."

"Too quiet," agreed Kurenai. The fact that they didn't encounter anymore bandits, when they had only taken out around twenty, served only to make her more suspicious of the sudden silence. She increased her pace, as did Ranma-chan, and in less than a minute, they reached the inner cavern where they found the cause of the silence.

In the middle of the cavern was a pile of bandits, all knocked unconscious, surrounded by piles of kunai and shuriken. They stepped out of the underground path and into the cavern itself only to have a barrage of kunai and shuriken launched at them from just about every direction. Acting quickly, both Kurenai and Ranma-chan formed handseals and slammed their hands to the ground. "Earth Release: Earth Style Wall!"

Two walls made from the ground rose up in a V shape around the two, preventing any of the weapons from getting through to them. Once they determined that the attack stopped, the wall crumbled down along with the weapons and the pair saw a trio of familiar Genin running up to them. "Kurenai-sensei! Ranma!" They all yelled in unison as they ran up to the duo.

As relieved as she was to see them, Kurenai decided to ask the more important question at the moment given that her charges didn't appear to be hurt. "I thought I told you to keep watch outside to make sure nobody escapes. What are you three doing down here? Better yet, how did you get here before us?"

"I uh… hehe…" Kurenai turned to Kaname, who had a sheepish grin on her face. "I was testing the new Earth technique I learned."

"And how did that end up bringing you down here?"

This time, it was Misami who answered the question. "Apparently the entrance to the cave was right above this cavern." Kurenai and Ranma-chan looked up and saw the hole that led from the cave entrance to where they were now. It wasn't that high up but it was high enough for someone to get seriously injured if they landed wrong.

"Kaname got lucky when she fell through," continued Fujitaka. "She fell right on top of the bandit leader so she wasn't hurt much."

"I see," she nodded, looking around the cavern. "Did anyone get past you?"

"That depends. After a while some of them fell right through the hole and knocked themselves out. We had to knock some of them out ourselves when the pile got higher."

"Well that explain the pile of bandits," said Ranma-chan, looking over said pile. Just then, they heard someone yelling and soon after that, another bandit fell atop the pile. "I guess they were in too much of a hurry to watch where they were going." She quickly threw a pebble that hit the bandit between the eyes, knocking him out before he could do anything to cause trouble. "So what now?"

"Now we report back to Hokage-sama." With that, Kurenai and her charges climbed to the top of the cavern with Chakra and left through the hole. "Also, this will be our last mission for a while. We'll be dedicating the next two days to training."

"Why's that sensei?" Asked Kaname.

"You'll see," said Kurenai with a knowing grin. "Trust me though. You'll thank me for this once this is all over."

The trio looked at each other, gave each other questioning looks and shrugged, not knowing that that was about. They turned to Ranma-chan who just gave them a look that said that she didn't know anymore than they did. On the inside, however, Ranma-chan was wondering just how the trio would react when they learned what was coming in three days.

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"Excuse me," turning around from his job, the shopkeeper looked to see a tall man dressed in black standing in front of the counter. "Sorry to bother you but have you seen this man by any chance?" Looking at the photo that was being held out, the shopkeeper shook his head when he failed to recognize the man depicted on it. "I see. Sorry to bother you."

Walking out of the shop, the man met up with a blonde-haired woman. "Did you find out anything?"

The man shook his head as he walked out into the light. The man was wearing black clothing all over and the hood made it appear as though he had cat ears on top of his head. His face was also covered in face paint. "It's no good. Everyone I've asked hasn't seen him. What about you Temari?"

The woman, Temari, shook her head. She looked the same as when Kakashi's team and Kurenai's team, including Ranma-chan, escorted her back to Suna roughly two months ago. Strapped to her back was the large fan that she used as a weapon. "No luck. It looks like he's not in this area either. Have you heard from the others yet Kankuro?"

"I picked up their letters earlier," replied Kankuro, Temari's younger brother. "He hasn't been seen in any of the nearby towns either."

"I see. Looks like we'll have to move on then. Where to next?"

"Unfortunately, we'll have to be more careful from now on."

"How come?" Asked Temari. "What could be more dangerous than searching for someone in Earth Country?"

"Searching between Earth Country and Lightning Country, that's what," replied Kankuro as the pair began to walk back to the Inn. They had been traveling for a month, going around all the countries counter-clockwise. Their search had began in Wind Country, being their homeland and all. Next they went to Fire Country, then to Wave and then Water Country. Now they were in enemy territory, Earth Country. "I don't know whether it's a good thing or a bad thing if we stumble across their base there. Good because we know where they're attacking from but bad since we might not escape with our lives."

"Still, we have to keep searching," said Temari. Making sure there were no Iwa or Kumo-nins nearby, Temari quickly put up a genjutsu to mask their conversation. "By the way, did you hear? Konoha has supposedly captured an Iwa-nin."

"What's so interesting about that?"

"The Iwa-nin they captured happens to be Satsuki, they same girl who Naruto warned us to avoid."

"Are you serious?" Kankuro all but yelled, causing several people to look at the siblings. Though they couldn't understand the conversation due to the genjutsu, they knew that the man was yelling. "I didn't think they'd be able to get her so soon. I mean, even Naruto was worried when he heard about her. When and how did they do it?"

"They captured her during the battle three days before we left Suna," replied Temari, walking into the inn where they were currently staying at. She and her brother took a seat and, after removing the genjutsu, ordered something to eat before she replaced the genjutsu and continued her tale. "According to the letter I received, she was fighting Naruto when Ranma caught her off guard. That allowed them to defeat her and capture her. Somehow, Ranma managed to get his hands on a strange pendant."

"Strange?"

Temari nodded, taking a sip of the water they had been brought. "It's strange because asides from certain metals and certain seals, nobody has ever seen or heard of anything like it. It's a pair of pendants, one for the prisoner, which is controlled by the other, the one for the jailor. The one the jailor wears can be used to control the Chakra output of the prisoner."

"So they could kill her in a second?"

"No, they can't," she answered. "According to Shikamaru, the pendants were made with the intent to keep someone from using their full power instead of killing them. When he sent me the letter, he said that she was much like Lee. She has enough Chakra to live but she can't perform any sort of technique that requires Chakra."

"So what do they plan to do with her?" Asked Kankuro before he drank the whole glass of water. "Do they plan to kill her, keep her prisoner or does Naruto plan on getting her to help us?"

At that question, her face scrunched up in befuddlement. "Strangely enough, Naruto gave the responsibility to Ranma." The look on Kankuro's face was enough to let her know that he was just as puzzled as she was. "I know," she said, agreeing with Kankuro as she knew what he was thinking. "To put the fate of a kage level Iwa-nin to an eighteen year old doesn't seem like the smartest thing to do, especially since its Ranma. Not even Naruto would make a decision like that."

"You're right. Ranma's much too forgiving to be a true shinobi," agreed the puppeteer. "Even though he'll understand that she's a threat to Konoha and Suna, the fact that she's so young might just sway the decision in Satsuki's favor and by letting her live, Iwa and Kumo stand a better chance at winning the war. What do you think sis?"

"She'll live, that I'm sure of," replied the blonde haired woman. "But the question is, will Ranma be able to change her outlook on the war?"

"You're right about that. It's just like everybody says, Ranma is a lot like Naruto. He's the kind of guy who will do whatever it takes to accomplish his goal and could possibly turn a kage level Iwa-nin into a loyal Konoha-nin. Even if he can't turn her to our side, he's still strong enough to fight an ordinary Kage at his age."

"Konoha sure is lucky to have guys like that on their side," commented Temari. "First the Shodai and Nidaime Hokage. One had a rare ability to use Wood Techniques and the other could use Water Techniques without a source of water. Both of them create Konoha with the ideals that they have now, shinobi with emotions who fight to protect."

"Then came the Sandaime and his students, Legendary Sannin themselves," continued Kankuro, nodding his assent to Temari's previous statement. "A man known as the God of Shinobi and a trio of the world's greatest shinobi and one of them is the continent's greatest medic-nin."

"Then there was Sakumo Hatake," picked up Temari. "Konoha's White Fang, father of Kakashi Hatake, the copy-nin, and a shinobi comparable to one of the Sannin."

"Then the Yondaime, Konoha's Yellow Flash. Quite possibly the greatest shinobi this world has ever seen."

"Then we have Naruto. Son of the Yondaime, Konoha's Second Flash and Konoha's loudest yet most surprising shinobi. To top it all of, he's the container for the greatest of the tailed beasts, the Nine-tailed Demon Fox."

"And now, Naruto recruited Ranma," continued Temari, "A powerful taijutsu specialist from an unknown country called Japan who can use Chi, a different, yet similar, kind of energy to Chakra. He doesn't need handseals to use it either. According to Gai and Lee, Ranma's taijutsu style is superior to any they have ever witnessed and Ranma's lack of speed and strength at the moment is all that is keeping him from beating both of them at the same time. All he needs to do is to train his strength and speed in order to be a match for the two of them. And given that he trains just as hard as Lee and Gai, if not harder, then that day won't be more then five years away, or so they say."

Kankuro let out a low whistle upon hearing that, impressed that Ranma could actually become that strong given time. When Gai and Lee fought at the same time at full power and using seven of the eight gates, they were strong enough to take out Naruto at three tails worth of power from the Nine-tails. Hearing that Ranma could do that in only a few short years meant that Ranma, a full-blooded human, could attain the power equal to that of a tailed beast, something that only powerful shinobi, such as the members of the long dead organization, Akatsuki, were capable of. There were others outside the group who had such power but they were few in numbers and were often on different sides of a battle.

"Yeah, they are pretty lucky." Kankuro nodded before a thought came to his mind. "Then again, when you have people like Orochimaru, Itachi and Sasuke among them, you can't really consider them all that lucky," he said as an afterthought.

Temari nodded, agreeing with Kankuro's line of thought. "And even though other villages have their own group of powerful shinobi, most of them can't compare to Konoha's legends. It isn't hard to see why Konoha was and still is the most powerful shinobi village. Even without those legendary names, the other and more unknown shinobi in Konoha are not to be underestimated."

"Although I honestly can't help but wonder how long that will last," commented Kankuro, appearing to be deep in thought. "While they do have some of the strongest shinobi in the continent, you can't help but think how long the village will survive. The fact that some of their strongest shinobi are willing to give their lives, sometimes for complete strangers, could actually be what destroys Konoha in the end."

"What do you mean? Don't tell me you actually think that they're stupid for doing that."

"Think about it Temari. One day someone, let's say Shino, gives his life to save someone. The next day it's maybe Kurenai, then another, and another, and another. And those people they save aren't even people who can help in the war or are significantly weaker shinobi, Chuunin or maybe Genin. Eventually they're going to run out of powerful shinobi and as powerful as Naruto is, even he has his limits."

"A powerful leader like Naruto and a genius like Shikamaru for a strategist won't make up for the lack of powerful shinobi. Even if they replace those shinobi with others from the clans that make up Konoha, there will still be a difference in power. Neji, Hinata, Hanabi and Kotoko are the most powerful Gentle Fist users even if Kotoko is still young. None of the other Hyuuga clan members even comes close to matching them," explained Kankuro.

"The same goes for the other clans and the other shinobi," he continued. "There are just some things that Naruto's strength, Shikamaru's intelligence, and Konoha's numbers and clans can't make up for. A hundred Chuunins, made up of members of the clans of Konoha, won't necessarily be able to replace one powerful Jounin. There are things that single Jounin could have done that a hundred Chuunins cannot."

"When you put it that way, I can't help but agree," Temari replied in a grave tone. "Not to say that every other shinobi out there is heartless enough to let someone get killed when he could have done something, but in a way you are right. What brought that on anyway?"

"I don't know. Maybe I'm just starting to get paranoid," he exclaimed, throwing his hands up into the air. "Ever since this war started, I couldn't help but think about everything that could go wrong. What I just said was one of the things that entered my mind. I mean, it's only been a few months since the war against Oto ended and now Iwa and Kumo start another one when both Konoha and Suna aren't completely prepared for another war so soon. Then again Gaara can protect Suna by himself, given that we're in the middle of a desert, and while Konoha doesn't really have that kind of luxury, they have an entire forest as their ideal battleground."

"You're right, as… troublesome as the forest can be at times, those trees are perfect for Konoha's forces," replied the blonde woman, her left eye twitched when she had said a particular word. "With so many trees in the way, many of Konoha's shinobi are at their strongest. The shadows from the trees are beneficial to the Nara Clan. The Aburame Clan's insects are perfectly hidden in the forest. The Hyuuga and Inuzuka Clans don't have to worry too much about giving away their position while trying to find an enemy shinobi among the trees. With Konoha's numerous Fire Techniques, they could even take a gamble and set fire to a part of that huge forest to scatter and kill off the enemy."

"And let's not forget that this is only in the day time," added the puppet master. "At night, it would be nearly impossible to take on Konoha's forces head on in that forest. And with that lazy Nara as their strategist for this war, there isn't much the enemy can do. I bet you anything that he's already aware of anything the enemy could try and that they're ready for just about anything. He may be lazy, but he sure is smart."

"Now if only that husband of mine wasn't so god damn lazy." Temari's hands shot up into the air in frustration before placing them on the table and burying her face in her arms. "I just wanted him to come to Suna and visit his own children more often. Is that too much to ask?" Kankuro just chuckled in response, patting his sister's shoulder to show his support. Clearly, this wasn't the first time something like that came up between them.

The Suna siblings were quiet for a moment before Temari eventually broke the silence. "You know something?"

"What?"

"I'm glad we're on the same side. I wouldn't want to have to fight a war against Konoha."

"You aren't the only one thinking that."

Eventually their order arrived and before they began eating, Temari cancelled the genjutsu, given that they weren't talking about anything private any longer. Just as they began eating their food, however, someone came up to their table. "Temari-san? Kankuro-san?" Both Suna shinobi tensed upon hearing their names being called, suddenly praying that they weren't spotted by an enemy shinobi. The next statement caught them off guard. "Is that you? What are you two doing here in Earth Country?"

Looking up from their meals to see who it was, both shinobi nearly choked when they saw who it was. After they swallowed what was in their mouths, both Kankuro and Temari yelled out the same thing. "It's you!"

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Standing amongst a group of Jounins, Kurenai could only grin when she heard some of the things the other Jounins were saying. Given that the Chuunin Exams was to be held in Konoha and that Konoha had a self-imposed rule regarding entering the exams, many of the Jounin instructors felt confident about letting their teams enter. Even though her team, sans Ranma, didn't have the Rookie of the Year or any of the more well known Genins of their age group, they were still an amazing group.

Misami, with her Gentle Fist and Byakugan was their scout and their close combat fighter. Fujitaka's wide range of Lightning Techniques made him good for both close combat and ranged support. Those two were the powerhouses of the trio and, after some training, worked very well together to the point that they could anticipate what the other would do without even looking.

Kaname, while the dead last of the class, was very much like Naruto. Because so many people look down upon her because of that title, she works harder than most of her classmates. She was willing to learn anything and everything she could just to prove people wrong and to reach her goal of surpassing Tsunade, one of the Sannin and the Fifth Hokage of Konoha. Kaname was the Genjutsu specialist in the group. Although she can use Ninjutsu, she lacks the reserves to be able to use more then five in one fight. To make up for it, she has the proper control for Genjutsu and to an extent, Medical Techniques taught to her by Ranma.

And then, there was Ranma himself. 'With him on the team, I don't have to worry about a thing. Even if he wasn't there, those three seem to look up to him and think of him as their rivals. Those three would do anything to prove that they're strong.' There was a faraway look in Kurenai's eyes as she thought about this as she thought about everything her team had been through since they were formed. 'I wonder how things might have turned out if Ranma hadn't joined the group.'

She imagined that she would have had to teach all three of them what Ranma had taught them, most of which he didn't even realize. Misami was much like her mother and had to learn that just because she was a Hyuuga didn't mean that she was superior to all. That was something she didn't look forward to given that the last time she had a Hyuuga on her team, Kurenai had to teach her something close to the opposite, how to be confident.

Fujitaka wouldn't have been much of a problem. All he had to learn was the best was to cooperate and coordinate with his teammates to prevent them from getting hurt by some of his more dangerous and widespread attacks.

Kaname would have been the hardest for her to help had Ranma not been there. Ranma had somehow turned taunting into an art, using it to make Kaname more determined to learn. He also knew how and when to taunt her and just about everybody else. He knew the right words to use, when to say it and how to phrase it to get the reaction he wanted. For Kaname, she became much more determined to prove that Ranma was wrong about her being weak. For their enemies it made them blind with anger, making it easier for their team to take them enemy out.

Truly, Ranma's arrival and unexpected, but welcome, presence in her team was a blessing. And although she knew that he would be reassigned when, not if, when he gets promoted to a Chuunin, she was still glad to have had the chance to have the gender-bender in her team.

"Let's begin then," she suddenly heard Naruto say. "Anyone who wishes to enter his or her Genin team into the Chuunin Exam, please step forward."

'Looks like I missed his speech,' she thought casually but wasn't bothered by it much. Stepping forward with a group of Jounins, she listened as each Jounin nominated his or her team to join the exam. Soon, as it neared the end of the line, it became her turn. "I, Kurenai Yuuhi, nominate team 4, composed of Misami Hyuuga, Fujitaka Hizumi, Kaname Kimura and Ranma Saotome, to take the Chuunin Selection Exams."

"I'm sorry Kurenai, but I can't let that team enter." This declaration from the Hokage caused a small uproar among the Jounin. Never before did the Hokage, any Hokage for that matter, turn down a Genin team from joining the exam. Holding up a hand, Naruto waited for all of the Jounins to calm down before he spoke. "Let me explain. What I mean, is that I can't let that team enter the way it is. Having someone like Ranma on their team will make their team significantly stronger in group combat which, as you all know, is the second part of the exam. I'll let the team enter but Ranma will not be part of the team."

"So then, what will he do?" Asked Kurenai, relieved that her team will be able to enter but slightly concerned for the fourth member of her cell. "Will he be joining another Genin team?"

"I have something else in store for Ranma. I want you to tell him this and that he'll find out on the day of the first exam."

Kurenai reluctantly nodded, wanting Ranma to remain with her team to increase the team's chances of reaching the final part of the exam and, more importantly, their chances of survival. Disregarding what she wanted, she did understand why Naruto was doing this. Ranma was more than a match for any Genin team. Hell, he was a match for an ordinary Jounin team or a group of powerful Chuunin. Even without his Chi, the fact that he could now use Chakra made him more powerful and more dangerous than before.

Nodding back to Kurenai, Naruto returned to taking down a list of the Genin teams that would be joining the exam. The last person to nominate his team was Kakashi. "Eleven Genin teams, including Ranma," Naruto said in a low voice. "This will be an interesting exam."

"Alright," he said out loud, "Now that this is out of the way you all know what to do next. For those whose teams will be entering the exam, you can use the next three days however you wish but there will be no missions, D-rank or otherwise, to give them time to recover from any injury they may have at this time and to prevent any accidents of any form. You're all dismissed."

One by one, the Jounin instructors left the room until only Kurenai, Kakashi and Naruto were left in the room. "I suppose you want to know what I'm planning for Ranma, right?" When both Jounins nodded, Naruto just sighed and took a seat behind his desk. "Given that Ranma is significantly more advanced than any of the Genin teams, I've decided to give him a special exam for the second part."

"What kind of exam?"

"Since the second exam normally knocks out half the teams, I've decided to change it a bit in order to incorporate Ranma's test in it as well."

The evil looking grin on Naruto's face caused both Jounins to shiver involuntarily as they wondered what their leader had in store for the martial artist.

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Elsewhere in Konoha, Ranma-chan sneezed in the middle of her own training, causing her to lose control of the ball of Chi she was working with. Her eyes widened when she felt the sudden build-up of power. "Crap," was all she managed to say before the ball of Chi detonated right in her face.

When the smoke from the explosion cleared, there was a crater in the clearing and in the middle of that crater was a charred, but otherwise unharmed, Ranma-chan. "I'm gonna kill the bastard who was talking about me," she muttered darkly. She pushed off the ground and leapt out of the crater to survey the damage done to the clearing. "Well, it's stronger than my old attack," she stared down at the size of the crater she created from atop a tree branch. "Although I could have found that out without blowing myself up."

"You blew yourself up?" Came a mocking voice. "Now I really wonder if I should be learning from you."

"It's not my fault I sneezed while I was working with my attack," said Ranma-chan before she hopped down the tree branch to join Satsuki on the ground. "Besides, it's not like I can teach you that attack anyway. It'll take you years to be able to use it."

"Whatever," dismissed Satsuki with a wave of her hand. "If there's a chance of it backfiring then I'd rather not learn it. No matter how effective it may be."

"Suit yourself but like I said, it'll take you years to be able to use it. Then again, learning it might be even harder given your nature."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You aren't exactly the most patient one in the bunch," shot back Ranma-chan before she leapt back and away from Satsuki and landing in a ready stance. "Well, let's get this over with. Get ready."

That was all the warning she had before Ranma-chan's form blurred out of existence and reappeared right behind her. Satsuki ducked to avoid the kick and spun around with her leg extended but Ranma-chan flipped forward and over the auburn-haired girl to evade the attack. Forming several handseals, Satsuki cocked her arm back before aiming a palm strike to Ranma-chan's abdomen, her palm beginning to glow a fiery red. Seeing her chance, Satsuki's arm shot forward and struck Ranma-chan. The moment she made contact, she released her hold over the technique and flames burst out from under her palm, spreading around Ranma-chan's body as she was sent flying back.

Ranma-chan tucked herself into a ball mid-flight, rebound off the tree and rolling on the ground to extinguish the flames. While the fire burnt a hole through her shirt, the skin under it didn't appear to have been touched by the flames. "That was good, but not nearly enough." Seeing the somewhat confused look on Satsuki's face, Ranma-chan took a guess as to why that may be. "What's wrong? You didn't actually think I'd get hurt by that did you?"

"Not really but those flames should have done more than just burn a hole through your shirt."

"When you survive a fight against a Phoenix God who uses flames that can burn through a mountain you'll want to learn how to manipulate the air around you to regulate the temperature. Even a Fire Technique at pointblank range won't hurt as much as it should."

"You really have a habit of making up lies don't you?" She deadpanned, preparing to resume the fight against the pigtailed martial artist.

"What makes you think I was lying? You saw for yourself that fire doesn't hurt me too much."

"I'm talking about this Phoenix God. Out of the nine Tailed Beasts, none of them is a phoenix. Even if it did exist, I doubt you would have survived if you had to fight it."

"You don't have to believe me if you don't want to," she replied just before she dashed towards the younger girl, clearing the distance between them in less than a second. "So," she began, lashing out with a snap kick to Satsuki's head, which was avoided by leaning back. "How's the academy? Anything interesting come up?"

"The only thing I'm looking forward to is the graduation exam, which happens to be a month from today. After that, I'll no longer have to attend."

"Well, I know you'll pass so there's no need for good luck," replied Ranma-chan. "Although you might need it when you start going on D-rank mission."

"Why would I need luck for... Any chance I can get out of it?"

"Let me think… no."

"Oh well, it was worth a try."

Throughout the entire exchange, Ranma-chan was regarding Satsuki with a small smile.

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"So you'll be taking part in the Chuunin Selection Exams then." It was more of a statement than a question but Ranma-chan nodded just the same. "What do you think Uzumaki has in store for you, asides from the fact that it's highly likely that he wouldn't put you on a team? If you ask me, you're very likely to be taking the exam by yourself."

"Yeah, well, it doesn't really matter to me either way. I'm still gonna kick some butt."

Ranma-chan and Satsuki we're currently in the middle of their meal. After they had finished their afternoon training, they bumped into Kurenai who informed Ranma-chan about Naruto's decision regarding Ranma-chan's participation in the Chuunin Exam. Ranma-chan didn't react negatively and simply claimed that it wasn't the first time something was changed unexpectedly and that she would have been surprised if nothing changed at all. That statement earned her two strange looks given that neither Kurenai nor Satsuki knew of Ranma-chan's past asides from a few details.

"How about you? What happened when you took the exams?"

"I never took any exams," replied Satsuki. "I was simply trained and was never given an official rank."

"Really?" Asked Ranma-chan and Satsuki expected that him to be surprised or something along those lines. Disappointment was not along any of those proverbial lines. "Well that sucks."

"Why do you say that? It was certainly better given that I had more time to train."

"Sure training is good and all but what's the point if you can't test what you've learned?"

"I spar with ANBU of both Iwa and Kumo nearly everyday if that's what you mean."

"No, no, not like that." Ranma-chan was shaking her head and her hands as she said this. "What I mean is that you can't see just how effective you are against certain opponents. Here's an example. As a girl I'm fast but I'm not as strong or as tough as I am as a guy so a strong opponent who is fast enough to hit me can beat me. As a guy I'm strong and tough but not as fast as when I'm a girl so a fast opponent would give me trouble."

"Because of that, I have to train my male half to become faster and my female half to be stronger and tougher. It's not really something you can learn without fighting different opponents. Fighting one opponent is very much different from fighting two. Fighting in mid-air is different from fighting on the ground." Ranma-chan paused to make sure that Satsuki was still listening before she continued with her explanation. "Even the best can be beaten given the right conditions and situation. Say I just came from a fight and I'm not only nearly out of Chakra but I'm also poisoned and heavily injured. With that kind of situation I doubt I'd survive a fight against a strong opponent."

Digesting the explanation for a moment, Satsuki said, "So you're saying that I should fight against different opponents to see if I have any weaknesses? And if I do have a weakness that I should work on eliminating it?"

Ranma-chan nodded and smiled, glad that Satsuki had understood what she was trying to tell her. "That's right, good job. Just remember that just because you don't have a weakness doesn't mean that you can't be beaten. There might be someone out there who's more powerful than you so don't get careless."

Satsuki nodded before she returned to finishing her meal while she thought about everything that Ranma-chan had been teaching her so far. At first, Ranma had given her training weights and had her run around the clearing they used to train. Afterwards they would spar and Ranma would comment on her form or her strategy. Not long after that, she began to run laps around Konoha instead of around the training ground. However, for the past week, Ranma had been mostly giving her lectures and such instead of teaching her anything new. The only thing constant was that Ranma continued to tease and annoy her in every way possible.

She didn't know what got to her more, the fact that Ranma always managed to get a rise out of her, even when she consciously tried not to, or the fact that he didn't seem aware that he was doing it. Even when she managed to give a good comeback to what Ranma was saying he always managed to give his own, one that got to her more than the last one.

She shook her head to clear it of thoughts and chose to think about something else, something that didn't include Ranma. 'I wonder what Tsuchikage-sama is doing right now. Better yet, does she know I'm still alive?'

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To answer Satsuki's question, no, the Tsuchikage had no knowledge that her weapon was still alive and well. At that moment, she was too busy checking up on the progress of Iwa and Kumo's ANBU research teams. She had just received word that they had made a breakthrough and she was now making her way down to the research area of the underground tower.

She was definitely looking forward to what they had to show her. Recently she had sent teams of Jounins and ANBU to attack anyone coming and going from Konoha in order to cut down their number of missions and thus their income. However, it would seem that Konoha had anticipated something like this as their clients were protected from harm and the threat was eliminated, at least, those who managed to get past the border patrol without being caught.

They had also tried to disguise their shinobi by giving them Konoha forehead protectors to wear and told them to go around the continent to cause trouble but they were caught by real Konoha shinobi or Suna shinobi barely an hour after they began causing trouble.

All attempts to intercept shinobi on missions from either Suna or Konoha were quickly dealt with long before their shinobi could even catch sight of their target. Even the Genin teams who traveled to other countries to complete their missions were somehow protected from their best shinobi.

"I certainly hope this is worth my time Yamazaki," she called out after she entered the room.

"Of course Tsuchikage-sama," replied the man just as he stepped in from the adjoining room. "Shall I explain here or would you prefer to see the results firsthand?"

She thought about it for a moment before she decided that they had wasted enough time simply trying to recreate it. "If the subject is stable then I think it would be better if we discussed it there. It would be much easier if I could actually see the results."

"Very well. Please follow me."

They pair walked through the door that the man came through earlier and walked along the length of the hallway. Along the wall of the hallway were large one-way mirrors to allow them to see into the room but not the other way around. Inside some of the rooms were various shinobi testing out their new techniques and others were experimenting with their bloodline abilities.

They continued to walk until they reached the end of the hallway where stood a heavy steel door guarded by two ANBU. The guards, upon seeing the pair, opened the door and allowed them in before they closed it behind them.

The room was a small rectangular room and on the wall opposite the door was another window, much like the ones outside. The room beyond the window looked like any ordinary bedroom. Lying on the bed, the bed covers covering the body from the neck below, was a person. "So, is this it?"

"Yes, this is the first of hopefully many more."

"So the experiment was a success then?"

Yamazaki nodded and held out the journal they recovered from the Oto base, Orochimaru's journal. "Because of the bloodstains on some of the pages, we had to deviate from the process several times in order to find out what the missing component is. The first attempts yielded similar results but the body did not appear to be alive. We checked those bodies to see if we had left anything out but we saw that every single organ was present and according to our best medic-nins, there was no reason for the body not to be alive."

"We rechecked the journal and reread every single entry, regardless of its relevance to the experiment, but still we found no reason as to why we failed where Orochimaru succeeded many times. It was when one of the others asked a question that made sense. What does a living body have that a dead one does not?"

Shiori's reply was swift. "Chakra."

"That's what we thought at first," agreed Yamazaki. "We tried to force Chakra into the body but even though the body contained Chakra, there was still no heartbeat or pulse to signify that it was alive."

"So what was the missing component?"

"A soul."

"A soul?" She repeated in question form.

"That's right Tsuchikage-sama, a soul, a spirit or, if you prefer, human consciousness. I'm sure you've heard of the Yamanaka Clan from Konoha." At the nod from Shiori, the man continued with his explanation. "They have the ability to send their consciousness into the body of other people, allowing them to control the body. But we were then faced with a problem as to how to give the body a soul."

"We have no knowledge of soul transfer like the Yamanaka Clan or Orochimaru but after a while we realized that perhaps we didn't need such knowledge. We simply used the forbidden technique once more only this time we placed a live prisoner, one that was sentenced to death, inside the seal. What you see now is the result of that experiment, a living breathing human with no knowledge of their previous existence whatsoever."

"So a live sacrifice is needed if we want a living being?"

Yamazaki nodded and pointed to a part of the page in the journal. "Also I think this little bit of information would be very interesting for you." He handed the journal to Shiori, who read through the entry and grinned at what that bit of information could do. "Shall I begin gathering the necessary ingredients?"

Shiori nodded and turned to face the slumbering form within the next room. "Does this one have any?"

Yamazaki shook his head. "I'm afraid not. Shall we dispose of him?"

"Not just yet. I have plans for this young man. Send for me the moment he wakes up. For now, I want you to create a squad based on the information you have just showed me. With this, we will no doubt be victorious against Konoha."

Yamazaki knocked twice on the door and soon after the ANBU guards opened the door. No sooner had they stepped out did a Chuunin run up to the Tsuchikage. "The teams you called for have been assembled and are awaiting your orders."

"Tell them to pack enough for roughly a month and to prepare to depart in an hour. We can't be late for the Chuunin Exams now can we?"

_END CHAPTER_

**And this is the end for this chapter. So how was it? Please click on the 'GO' button at the bottom of the page and tell us what you think of this chapter. Like it? Hate it? Love it? Despise it? Comment? Suggestion? Flames? Criticisms? Any and all is welcome as nothing you say can discourage us, only motivate us to write better, if we can.**

**Until the next chapter then.**


	22. Arc 2 Chapter 12

Terms of Engagement

Terms of Engagement

By Overlord of Order and Overlord of Chaos

**SUMMARY: What if many of the on-goings involving Genma and Nodoka was all a hoax? What if most of what they've said was a lie? What reason could they have to lie to so many people? What does it have to do with Ranma's future?**

_**keichan2:**__**While you're idea certainly is funny, we've already planned out what Ranma's role in the second part of the exam will be, which you'll see in this chapter. Although if you don't mind, we might use that idea in the future for another part of the story. As for controlling their experimental ninjas, you've already seen how they'll be controlling them. If you can't remember, then go back to chapter seven of this arc or you could wait and see.**_

_**Aleh:**__** We've looked it up like you suggested and we'd just like to say thanks to you and to **__**foesjoe**__** for pointing it out to us. We'll try to remember it but no guarantees about this chapter or the future chapters being 100 percent correct but we'll try out best. Now that we know what we're doing wrong we'll be going back to the other chapters to correct our mistakes but it might take a while. Once again, thanks.**_

_**Sargon Dorsai:**__** Nice to know what you think of the story so far. As to your question, we'll be going straight to the exams in this chapter since there haven't been any real fights for a few chapters now. Of course there's still the first exam but it's not like it takes a long time to finish anyway so you'll definitely be seeing the second exam in this chapter. Regarding Ranma's visions, the next one probably won't be in a while, maybe after another chapter or two. And if you want to check something that you think may happen then feel free to PM us. Of course, you'd better be sure you'd like to have it spoiled in case you're right. Or like someone else who PMed me, got it wrong, got too curious and asked us to tell him, or her, what was going to happen, spoiling that part of the story.**_

_**Death Aura:**__** My plans for Ranma in the exam will be revealed in this chapter and the person that Temari and Kankuro saw as well as the person they're looking for will be revealed probably within the next two chapters, this chapter not included.**_

_**BlazeStryker: **__**Well, whether or not their plan backfires will be more or less up to me, won't it? :) And just to be sure in case you forgot, this technique they're using is the same one that Orochimaru used to create Satsuki. It's less of an insertion of a soul and more of a reincarnation by human hands.**_

**To everyone else who reviewed and who have read the story so far, a great, big Thank You for your support. We hope you continue to read this story all the way to the very end.**

**This chapter will be longer than usual just so you all know and at the end of this chapter, we have a special request from all of you. But first, here's the next chapter of the story.**

_Arc 2: Ninja Training_

_Chapter 12: The Chuunin Exams_

Three days later found Ranma, Misami, Fujitaka and Kaname standing outside Konoha's Ninja Academy. All around them were different shinobi from different countries, save for Iwa and Kumo of course. All of the Genin who were anxiously awaiting the start of the Chuunin Exams stood outside the building and waiting for the arrival of their examiners who would then give them their first set of instructions.

While waiting, Ranma and company were talking about what they thought the exams would be. Even if they were no longer teammates, they had agreed that they would still help each other if necessary. While Fujitaka reasoned that it would most likely be a tournament, Kaname stated that fighting wasn't the only thing a ninja was supposed to be good at.

"Don't forget," cut in Misami. "Just as Kaname said, there are many aspects to being a shinobi. Stealth, tracking, taijutsu, ninjutsu, genjutsu, kenjutsu and reconnaissance are some of those skills we will need. They may also test you one your physical strength, speed, intelligence and Chakra Control. There's really no telling what we'll be tested on. It could be all of what I've said or possibly none at all. For all we know they might decide to make it a battle tournament like you said."

Before they could talk more about their ideas, a swirl of leaves alerted them to the arrival of the examiners. In front of the academy doors stood a line of Konoha shinobi and among them, one of them was familiar to Ranma. The one he recognized was none other than the daughter of the Hokage, Kotoko Uzumaki.

Kotoko looked around the academy grounds and looked at all the Chuunin hopefuls with an analytical gaze before she yelled out, "I want everyone here to proceed to room 301. Anyone who isn't there in thirty minutes will not be allowed to take the exam. Now," she paused long enough to activate her Byakugan and glared at all the Genin. "MOVE!"

The tone of voice she used combined with the glare from an activated Byakugan and a large amount of killing intent was enough to motivate everyone to run inside the academy, some of them even got run over by the other Genin as everyone hurried into the academy. Everyone, that is, except a certain pigtailed teen. The examiners were about to leave when they noticed Ranma just standing there, looking dumbfounded at the empty space around him that was occupied by hundreds of Genin just a few seconds earlier.

"Those guys are fast," they heard him comment before he leisurely walked towards the academy.

Kotoko watched Ranma with a calculating eye as he took his time. She knew that at his current pace he would be cutting it close given that they locked many doors in the academy, turning it into a maze. She and the other examiners were about to leave when they saw what Ranma was doing and sweatdropped at the sight.

"Be sure to keep a close eye on him," she said to the Chuunin beside her who promptly nodded before disappearing in a swirl of leaves with the others. That left Kotoko the only one as she continued to watch Ranma until he was out of sight. "He's definitely going to become a Chuunin if he keeps this up."

Then in a swirl of leaves, she too was gone.

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Misami, Fujitaka and Kaname ran for their lives as they tried to avoid a swarm of kunai that shot out from the walls of the academy hallways. 'Maybe we should have gone right instead of straight,' thought Misami. With her Byakugan, she managed to watch the progress of the other Genin behind her, and frowned at what she saw. The kunai that shot out from the walls weren't real in a sense. Since she had the Byakugan, she could see that they were only made of wood but were covered in red paint that marked who was hit as well as placed under a Genjutsu to make them look like real kunai. So far neither she nor Fujitaka or Kaname were hit by a single kunai.

Reaching the end of the hallway, the rain of kunai ended as they burst into the next room along with some of the other Genin who went the same way as they did. Inside the room they saw three sets of stairs with one ninja guarding each entryway. "So you're the Genin taking these exams?" One of them asked, to which they all nodded. "If that's the case then I suggest you all turn back."

"These exams aren't for kids like you," said the second shinobi. "In fact, kids like you shouldn't even be ninjas in the first place. You should leave the ninja stuff to the adults."

"What was that?" Yelled one of the Genin from the back of the group.

"You heard us," said the first shinobi. "You should all just go home."

"Hey, let's give them a chance," said the third shinobi who had been silent up until that point. "If they can get through us then they can go on through, what do you say?"

The other two shinobi grinned and nodded. "Alright, sounds fair enough," replied the second before he turned to the Genin. "You punks should be grateful we're even giving you a chance. So who's going to be the first to try?"

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Almost thirty minutes later, a group of Genin sluggishly made their way to the door to room 301. Among the group was Konoha's Team 4 and just like the others, they were grateful that they had finally made it to the assigned room. Despite the many obstacles that included traps, shinobi guards and genjutsu, they had finally made it. Sliding open the doors at the back and the front of the room, the jaws of the Genin who could see into the room dropped at what they saw.

There, lazily leaning back on the desk behind him was none other than Ranma Saotome. Upon hearing the doors slide open, Ranma turned to face the doorway where he saw his former team. "Hey guys, took you long enough."

In all honesty, neither one of the three were surprised that Ranma got there before them. However, they couldn't help wondering how he did it. "How'd you get here so fast?" Asked Kaname, unable to figure out how he did it. "Did you break through the walls or something?"

"No," he replied with a smile.

"Did you run past everything?"

"No."

"Did you bribe that Hyuuga chick?"

Ranma turned to the Genin who asked that question with a strange look and replied, "No. And by the way, she's standing right behind you." That statement caused the Genin to jump and spin around only to find that asides from the other Genin standing behind him, there was nobody else there. This in turn caused Ranma to burst out laughing.

"So, what did you do?" Asked Fujitaka.

"Nothing special really," he said with a shrug. "I just climbed up the wall of the academy and went through the open window." He pointed over to the said window, causing all the Genin to facefault at the simplicity of his success. "By the way, you only have a few seconds to get in here before time is up."

Everyone recovered quickly as they frantically rushed into the room and took a seat. Just as the last Genin took a seat, swirls of leaves appeared at the front of the room and the examiners appeared there while two Chuunin appeared in front of the doors just before another group of Genin could enter. With a cruel smirk to those outside, they slammed the doors shut and turned their back to the door.

"Alright," began Kotoko, her Byakugan still active, making her appear much more intimidating. "To all those in this room right now I have a few more things to say. First, congratulations on making it past the first half of this exam. But," she continued swiftly and sternly, cutting off what she knew would be sighs of relief and cheers of excitement. "This is where things become more difficult for you. While I'm sure you are all capable shinobi, at least for Genin, this part of the first exam will probably be the hardest of all the challenges you've been through up until now."

"Before I begin the next part of this test, here are a few rules. The first is that there will be no talking allowed. I don't care if you have a question or if you have to go to the restroom. Disobey this rule and you and your team will be eliminated from this exam." She looked around to make sure everyone understood before moving on to the next one. "Number two, anyone who does not follow instructions properly will be taken out of this exam along with his or her team. And the third rule is that if any of you are caught cheating, then we will deduct points from your overall score."

"Now, under your seats are the next part of your exam," she continued. "I want you all to reach under your seats and pull out the folder and place it on top of your desks without opening them." She watched as each and every Genin in the room did as they were told except for one. That Genin's folder had just barely touched the table when a kunai suddenly found its way onto his desk, pinning the folder to the table. "You," she began, "When I say not to open them, I mean it. Get your teammates and get out before I do it for you."

The Genin nodded fearfully before he dashed towards the door, his two teammates following soon after with angry looks on their faces. Returning her attention to the rest of the Genin, she proceeded to give the next set of instructions. "This part of the exam will be a written exam," she announced, causing a majority of the Genin to groan. "If you don't want to take the exam then you're more than welcome to leave."

The Genin in the room immediately shut up and Kotoko only grinned before she gave them their instructions. "Each question in this exam is worth one point for a total of ten points. Answer the question correctly and you get one point. Leave it blank and you don't earn the point. But if you answer it incorrectly then you will lose one point instead." At that proclamation a loud commotion broke out among the Genin ranks but was quickly silenced by a powerful wave of killing intent from Kotoko. "Don't forget the rule I stated earlier. Anyone who speaks will be disqualified. Consider this a warning. The next time any of you speak, you'll be out of here before you can say Chuunin."

When she saw that they understood that she was serious, she continued to explain the rules. "Any of you caught cheating will receive a two point deduction from your total score. Get caught cheating five times and you fail. At the end of this exam, to those who make it that far, your score will be added to that of your teammates and all the deductions you've earned will be taken into consideration as well. If you manage to reach a certain number of points then you will pass this exam otherwise you fail. If any one person doesn't get a single point then that Genin and his or her team are immediately disqualified. I won't even bother counting the number of points you have. Those are the rules for this test. Are there any questions?"

"Yes, I-" The poor Genin never managed to finish as a kunai immediately found its way onto his desk, causing him to yelp and jump back.

"I said no talking!" Yelled Kotoko. "Now get out!"

The Genin nodded hastily before he got up from his seat and promptly tripped and fell to the ground before he got up once more and rushed out of the room like the previous Genin Kotoko yelled at. His teammates soon followed and Kotoko turned to the rest of the Genin. "Anyone else got something to say?" There was fearful shaking of heads all around at that question, to which Kotoko smirked. "Good. You'll have an hour to finish your test so get started."

There was a short moment of silence in which not a single Genin moved. "Well?" She asked after she noticed that nobody seemed to be moving. "What are you waiting for? The Hokage? Get started before I fail all of you." That did the trick as everyone hastily opened the folder that contained their test papers and began to read through the test. She grinned as she watched all the Genin scrambling around to open their folders and pick up the pencils that were placed inside. 'I love this job.'

Ranma opened his folder and, unlike the other Genin, found three different test papers. "Oh, I almost forgot." Everyone looked up from their desks to look at a grinning Kotoko. "Since Saotome-san is taking this exam alone, he will have to finish three tests instead of one. I certainly hope you're ready for this Saotome-san," she said, turning to face Ranma with an evil looking grin. "Even if you are a Konoha shinobi, that doesn't mean we'll go easy on you."

Not wanting to test whether or not he'd be thrown out for talking, Ranma just went back to his test. After he read through all the questions, he came to one conclusion. 'I'm so screwed.' Out of the 29 questions on his test papers, there wasn't a single one that he considered even remotely easy. Most of the questions involved deciphering a code, calculating where a weapon would land given the wind speed, weapon weight and distance from target, or something completely theoretical.

He cautiously looked around him and saw that several Genin were writing down their answers while some, like him, were struggling to answer a question. 'I don't believe this,' he thought in disbelief. 'Do they really teach them all this stuff at the academy? Well, no point crying over this. I might as well see if I can answer any of these at all.'

He read through each question slowly and tried to determine which ones were answerable for him and which ones would either be very difficult, or impossible for him to answer. Sadly, a majority of the question fell into the second category. Glancing around once more, Ranma saw several Genin who sighed in relief and put their pencils down. He quickly stole a glance at the clock and realized that he had spent nearly half an hour looking over the questions.

Knowing that he wouldn't be able to answer a lot within the next half hour, Ranma quickly went to work on his test. Well, until the female Genin beside him screamed out loud at least. He looked to his right to see that a kunai was embedded into the middle of her desk, pinning her test paper down. "That's five for you," said the Chuunin who threw the kunai. "Gather your team and leave."

Ranma heard her saying something about crazy Konoha shinobi as she left, apologizing to her teammates along the way to the door. 'Damn, these guys mean business,' thought Ranma. 'Better be careful.'

Misami was another who was having a difficult time with the exam. While her Byakugan would have made it easy for her to cheat, it was also quite easy to spot simply by looking at her eyes or the area around her eyes. Even if the Chuunin in the room weren't looking, Kotoko would have spotted her with her own Byakugan. There were a few questions on the test that she could answer but she was worried about her teammates and Ranma.

Fujitaka was smart, she knew that, but she doubted that even he could answer all the questions on the test. Kaname, on the other hand, wasn't the brainy type and, therefore, was the weak link of their team. As for Ranma, well, she didn't know what to think. She knew that he was smarter than he let on and that he was stronger than she gave him credit for. What she didn't know was whether or not he was smart enough to answer enough questions to pass, let alone by himself.

She would be caught by Kotoko the moment she used the Byakugan, she knew that and was prepared to risk getting a two point deduction from her test for getting caught once. What she didn't know was whether or not she would be copying the correct answers. Getting caught cheating once would only take away two points but copying too many wrong answers would lead to more than just a two point deduction. 'But,' she said to herself. 'Unless I do something then we might end up failing the exam on the first day. I guess this is a risk I'll just have to take.'

She formed the seal underneath her desk and whispered, "Byakugan," causing the veins around her eyes to bulge out and those in her eye to become visible. Her vision changed immediately, turning into the near 360 degree vision that the Byakugan allowed the user. She immediately saw Kotoko look directly at her before she turned to the closest Chuunin and nodded slightly in Misami's direction. Without wasting any time, she quickly looked to Fujitaka and was relieved to find that he managed to put down six answers so far, most of which looked correct. Kaname managed to answer two questions, both of which were questions that Fujitaka managed to answer as well with the same answer.

She moved her vision to Ranma's paper and paled slightly when she saw that he hadn't managed to answer even a single question as of yet. 'There's nothing I can do,' thought Misami, knowing that she would not be able to get him the answers because of their distance from each other. 'All I can do is hope that he can answer enough questions before time runs out. For now I have to focus on my own test.'

Because of her paranoia, it was understandable when she jumped when a kunai whizzed past her ear. Not that she would admit it out loud, but that little incident nearly scared the life out of her and almost caused her to scream. Almost. "You, out."

Relieved that it wasn't her that was being sent out of the room, she gathered her wits and she scanned the room full of Genin until she found one whose exam paper matched hers perfectly. Taking a few seconds to read the answers, she copied them all down, deactivated her Byakugan and considered herself lucky to have spotted a smart one. Not only that, but one who had the exam same test paper that she did.

Now all she had to do was wait for the final question to be revealed. It was strange that the last question, for all of them in the room, was only going to be revealed once the hour was up. Of course she didn't think much of this given her profession. It just made her wonder why it was so. While she waited for the hour to finish, at least five more teams were failed, much to her amusement.

Back with Ranma, the pigtailed martial artist struggled to answer even one question. Even the ones that seemed easier than the rest were nearly impossible for him to answer. 'Still, I have to try. I can't fail especially this early. Besides, Ranma Saotome never loses.'

He was almost done figuring out the answer to one question when Kotoko's voice ran throughout the classroom. "Alright brats, time's up. Put your pencils down and shut your folders." Kotoko looked around the room and nodded to the Chuunin. They nodded in return and gathered the exam folders while placing a blank sheet of paper onto their desks. They Chuunin handed her the folders and their clipboards before they returned to their places around the classroom.

"Now then, to those of you who are still in the room here is the final question. But before that, I have a few more rules to add. You will first have to decide whether or not you want to attempt to answer this question." Just like the many other exams where she was an examiner of the first exam, a large group of Genin made loud exclamations of disbelief at her latest statement. The only difference this time was that she was the head examiner. Silencing them with a large amount of killing intent, Kotoko continued speaking. "As I just said, you will have to decide whether or not you want to try and answer this final question."

Nobody said anything, still afraid that they would be forced to leave if they spoke. "If you decide not to try then of course, you will fail the exam. However," she added sternly, cutting off anything that could have been said. "If you do choose to try and answer the final question but get it wrong, then you _and _your teammates will never be allowed to take the Chuunin Selection Exams ever again."

There were cries of outrage from the Genin inside the room. One from Kiri had even yelled out, "You can't do that! You don't have any authority over foreign shinobi like us." There were shouts of agreement to what the Genin said but the smirk on Kotoko's face caused their confidence to waver.

"You came to Konoha to take the exam," began Kotoko, speaking sternly and emphasizing her words to get her point across. "By coming here, you more or less agreed to play by our rules."

"The exam wasn't like this the last time I was here for the Chuunin exams," called out another foreign Genin, this one from Suna.

"Was I the head examiner at that time?" She asked then answered her own question before the Genin could. "No, I wasn't. This time I make the rules of the exam. And let me assure you that Hokage-sama himself approved of my exam. Therefore if I say that you are never to take another exam then you can rest assured that you'll never be allowed to take another one regardless of which country is holding the exam."

"Now that this is out in the open, I'll give you all a chance to back out now. I suggest you think about your decision before you do anything. Don't forget, your shinobi career is on the line here. Will you move forward get the chance to achieve the rank of Chuunin and perhaps Jounin in the future, or will you forever be stuck doing D-rank missions?" That question got the wanted results as she could feel their fear coming off them in waves. "If any of you wish to quit then now is the time."

Almost as soon as she finished, several Genin stood up and declared that they wanted to quit. Their teammates stood with them and left, some looking at their teammate with anger and some with understanding. Several more Genin stood and left with their team until the number of teams remaining was close to half. "Are you all sure you want to risk it?" Taunted one of the Chuunin.

"Remember," said Kotoko. "Your future as a shinobi will be determined by this next question. Are you truly ready to risk it all and possibly remain a Genin for the rest of your lives?"

"Just get on with it already."

Everyone's heads suddenly spun around to face the person who actually dared to speak so boldly at such a tense moment. 'No surprise there,' thought Kotoko. 'It would have been more of a surprise if he didn't say anything at all.' Kotoko took a moment to get into the right mindset before she said, "You say that yet you probably have the easiest time here. Look around you Saotome-san, out of everyone here you are the only one who is entering the exam by yourself."

"You really think being alone it makes it easier?"

An evil grin appeared on Kotoko's face as she looked Ranma directly in the eyes. "Of course. After all, if you do not answer the final question correctly then you alone will no longer be allowed to take the Chuunin Selection Exams ever again. But tell me, could you really say the same thing when you put not only your own career on the line, but that of your teammates by choosing to stay?"

She walked around the room for a while and allowed Ranma some time to try and understand what she was trying to say. 'Just to be sure,' she stopped and suddenly placed a hand on the shoulder of Kaname, causing the young redhead to jump slightly. "Let us say this young lady here does attempt to answer the question and fails to get it right," she continued to explain. "Simply because she is her teammate, Misami will no longer be allowed to take the Chuunin exam since she failed to answer the question correctly. It doesn't matter that Misami and I are of the same blood, she will never be able to take another Chuunin exam for the rest of her career."

"So tell me now, Saotome-san. In the end, who is to blame when that happens?" She asked with the same evil grin. "Me, for making the exam, the Hokage, for making me this test's head examiner and approving of the test I had planned, or Kimura-san, who failed to answer the question correctly?"

Even before she had asked the question, Ranma understood what Kotoko was trying to say. If he answers the question wrong then he alone will face the penalty. But if he was still on a team, then it would mean that his teammates would face the same penalty regardless of whether or not they answered the question correctly. For someone like him, he knew that it would have been a difficult choice to make. While it didn't matter if he remained a Genin, he would still have Misami, Fujitaka and Kaname to think about.

The worst part about it was that Kaname was very stubborn. She knew that she wasn't the smartest on the team nor was she the strongest. Even if they could get her to admit that she probably would not be able to answer the final question, she, like Ranma, was often blinded by her ambition. Just like Ranma, she would risk all she had to achieve her goal, often without thinking of the consequences or without thinking at all.

"I see now that you understand," said Kotoko, pulling Ranma out of his thoughts. "But for now we should finish this exam. Is there anyone else who wishes to quit? You perhaps?" asked the pale eyed teen, gazing directly at the sweating Kaname.

Feeling all eyes on her, Kaname struggled with herself just to speak. "I… I…" It was only when Kotoko gave that hypothetical tale that she seriously thought about her decision. To achieve her goal of surpassing Tsunade of the Sannin didn't necessarily mean that she had to advance in rank, just that she had to make a name for herself, one that would make her more famous than Tsunade.

But after hearing that possible outcome, she now wondered what she should do. If she fails and is never allowed to take the exam again, she could still achieve her goal. Fujitaka and Misami, however, are a different matter.

Misami aspired to become the Hyuuga Clan Head, and to do that she needed to prove that she was worthy. Kaname many not know much about how the Hyuuga Clan Head is chosen, but she knew that there was a possibility that someone else may be chosen simply because they see her failure, even if it was Kaname's fault, as a weakness.

Fujitaka was… well, Fujitaka. He had never been one to hold a grudge or to get mad at someone who wasn't completely to blame. Even if that someone was completely to blame, he was very understanding and often forgave that person almost immediately, so long as they sincerely apologized of course. For some reason, he always knew if someone was honest or not.

She knew that Fujitaka wouldn't blame her but she wasn't so sure about Misami. While the three of them had grown close the past one and a half month they were teammates, she knew that something would get in the way of their friendship one day. Whether or not they remained friends afterwards was another matter altogether. One look at Misami and Fujitaka was all it took for her to make her decision.

"I don't care," she finally said. "I don't care if I'm stuck as a Genin forever. Sure my teammates might hate me for it but I don't care if they do." That statement shocked both Misami and Fujitaka but as Kaname continued to speak, all they could do was smile. "Just because we're stuck as Genin doesn't mean that we can't get stronger or reach our goal. And anybody who can't see past a simple title isn't worth my time at all. So go ahead, do your worst." She finished by crossing her arms and legs, and looking quite smug at what she had just done.

"Is that so?" asked Kotoko with an even more arrogant tone, one that caused Kaname to suddenly wonder if what she'd done was a good idea. "Well then, I certainly hope you won't end up regretting your decision. Now, to every Genin who is still in this room…" The long pause caused many to become more anxious than they already were. Many were beginning to doubt their decision to remain in the room and even more wanted to run out of the room before it was too late. So it was understandable that they reacted the way they did at Kotoko's next statement. "…You all pass," she finished with a smile.

Anyone who described that moment as the kind where a pin or a feather could be heard dropping couldn't be any more wrong. Every single Genin in that room, including Ranma, was too shocked by the recent development that they wouldn't have noticed if the Nine-tailed fox himself began to attack the very building they were in at that exact moment.

Inside her head, Kotoko's thoughts went something like this. 'Three, two, one, now.'

"WHAT?!"

'Right on the dot.' Kotoko deactivated her Byakugan and took a deep breath before she began to explain. "I don't really know how other shinobi villages would test their Genin but here in Konoha, our tests are very thorough. This exam was divided into three parts and each part of the exam was a simulation of what a Chuunin is expected to do." She held up her right hand and extended one finger as she began to go through the tests. "The first test was when we gave you a time limit to get to this room. There will be many missions where you will have to reach your destination or retrieve something within a specific timeframe. And like all missions, there will be many obstacles to and from the target. However, as Saotome-san demonstrated, sometimes the easiest and most obvious path is often the least taken."

"The second test was the written exam. As many of you have undoubtedly noticed, the exam was very hard. To be honest, many Chuunin have great difficulty with those exams. The point of that exam was not to test your intelligence but to test your observation and information gathering skills. We placed two teams of Chuunin to take the test with you," she paused just long enough for six of the Genin to stand, one of whom Misami recognized as the one whose answers she had copied, and cancel the transformation, reverting back to their older selves. "These six had memorized the answers beforehand and they were to be the main targets of those who were going to cheat."

"Wait, you knew we were going to cheat?" asked a random Genin.

"Of course," replied Kotoko as though the answer was already obvious. "In fact the entire point of the written exam was to cheat to obtain the answers. It's the reason why we did not kick you out the moment you cheated and instead gave you five chances. You have to remember that there are no rules in real life, especially in a mission. The only rules are the self-imposed ones that are used to make the mission easier."

"The rules we stated earlier are prime examples. The first is to keep quiet. The second is to follow the orders of your superior. The third is the hidden rule. We specifically told you what would happen if you got caught cheating, which is similar to getting seen by an enemy shinobi during a mission. If you're going to cheat, don't get caught, simple as that. In our line of business, information is power. The one who holds the most information, and knows how to use that information well, holds the key to victory, so long as that information is vital."

"One example would be this exam. If even one of you had figured out the point of this entire exam then so long as you acted upon that information then you would have passed. Another example of vital information would be the names, abilities, skills and, most importantly, weaknesses of every single shinobi in Konoha. At one point perhaps that information would have been vital to any enemy of Konoha. But as time passes, those shinobi grow stronger and thus the information becomes useless."

"As Chuunin, you will often be sent out to retrieve or gather important information and sometimes you will have to not only fight for that information, but fight in order to keep it and your lives. You must gather information without getting caught, therefore making it easier to escape with your lives. Even if you don't get caught, you must never let the enemy shinobi know about the information you have. Otherwise the knowledge you obtained will be useless as they would already know what you know. It's the same as infiltrating an enemy base, stealing the plans for their next attack, and letting them know that you know their plan. In the end, it was all for nothing, since they could now change their plans, knowing that their old plan would fail."

"But what about the tenth question? What was the point of that?"

There were murmurs and yells of agreement, all of them wanting to know the point of forcing them to make such a big decision. "There was never a tenth question, or you could say that deciding whether or not you try and answer that question was the question itself." When she saw the puzzled looks on the Genin's faces, she knew that just like all the other times, the exam would have to be explained in greater detail. "Think back to when I explained the importance of information. The more information you have on a given subject, then the easier it would be to deal with that subject, correct?"

There were nods all around and with a nod of her head, Kotoko continued her explanation. "Therefore the more information you have on the target of your mission the easier the mission would be, correct?" Once again, the Genin in the room nodded their agreement. "Now think, what if you were asked by your leader if you wanted to take a mission when nothing is known about the target at all. No information on what it is, where it is, is it even guarded or is it out in the open? Would you take the mission, knowing that there is no information at all?"

Before a single word was spoken, Kotoko swiftly answered. "Before you answer, let me make it simpler for you all to understand. This kind of scenario happens more often than you think. The question regarding whether or not you should try and answer the tenth question is the same as your leader asking whether or not you want to take the mission. Only instead of losing your chance of becoming a Chuunin, you could lose your life."

"Those who left the room are those who would have told their village leader that they would rather wait for another mission, one with more information and thus, less risky. In short, they were cowards. And let me tell you now that there is no place for cowards among Chuunin. You will never move on with your shinobi career or your life if you never take a single risk and always play it safe. If that's the case, then you shouldn't even be a shinobi. The moment you decided to become a shinobi was the day you decided to gamble with your life."

Kotoko looked around the room, watching the emotions run across the faces of the Genin in the room as they thought about what she said. But the moment was interrupted when two kunai flew in through the open window and became embedded into the ceiling. Between the kunai, a banner with a name written on it unfurled. A swirl of leaves appeared beneath the banner and another Konoha shinobi appeared. "Alright you brats. The name's Anko Mitarashi and I'll be your examiner for the second exam."

The appearance of the woman, Anko, shocked many, if not all, of the Genin in the room. She wore a short, brown leather skirt, a fishnet shirt and a tan trench coat that barely hid her assets. While many of the Genin were still trying to process the fact that their second examiner was there, Kotoko approached Anko. "You really should work on your timing Anko-san," she said to the older woman. "I just finished explaining the point of the first exam."

Anko, who seemed to be ignoring Kotoko, just finished counting the number of Genin left in the room. "You passed twenty-five teams?" She asked, turning to the first proctor. "Damn, that's almost as many as when your old man took his first Chuunin exam. That softie Ibiki passed twenty-six teams." Anko paused as she thought back to the event she was talking about. "Anyway, it doesn't really matter. By the time I'm done with them, I doubt there'll be half of them left for the next exam."

Anko turned to face the Genin, who were now worried about the difficulty of the next exam. "Alright you maggots," she began in a loud voice. "Follow me to the next exam. Anyone left behind will immediately fail."

Anko leapt through the very window she entered through. As soon as she did, the other windows opened and the remaining Genin leapt out of the nearest window to catch up to their proctor, who led them towards Konoha's training grounds.

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"This is one of Konoha's many training grounds," began Anko who stood in front of a fence with a map of the training ground attacked to it. "This particular one is known as the Forest of Death and this is where you'll be taking the next exam. And let me assure you that it isn't just some fancy name to scare you off."

Anko reached into her pocket and pulled out three scrolls. "Your test will be a survival exam," she said and held out the first scroll with the character for Heaven on it. "This is the Heaven Scroll." She returned it to her pocket and held out the second scroll, this one with the character for Earth. "This one is the Earth Scroll."

"In order to pass this exam, you will need to bring both the Heaven and Earth Scroll to the tower at the center of the forest. This scroll," she paused to hold up the third scroll, a red scroll with the character for Dragon. "This is the Dragon Scroll and it's worth both the Heaven and Earth Scrolls combined. Anyone lucky enough to receive one of these will more or less receive free admittance into the tower and if you manage to bring it to the tower then a special prize awaits your team as well. That is, if you make it to the tower alive."

"Before we start, you'll have to fill in these forms." Two of the Chuunin in the area began to hand out the same forms that Anko was holding up. "Before you ask, it's to clear up that Konoha will not be responsible for any deaths that may take place during this exam. Once you're done filling them up, fall in line, enter that booth one team at a time, and exchange your team's forms for one scroll. After that, I'll explain the rest of the rules."

After she made sure that they all received the forms from the Chuunin, she discreetly made her way towards a certain red clad teen. "Ranma." The aforementioned teen looked up from the paper in his hands to find Anko standing in front of him holding out a scroll. Ranma took the scroll from Anko's hand, slipped it into his subspace pocket and returned to filling up his form, figuring that he should open it later when there's nobody around. "I have to say, you've got your work cut out for you. You're the first in a long time to take this exam by yourself."

"I've been through worse," was Ranma's only reply.

Nearby, Kaname was busy watching Ranma and Anko's brief conversation while filling up her own form. "What do you think they're talking about?"

"Don't know," replied Misami. "Although I doubt that it has something to do with the exam."

"How can you be so sure?"

"That's Anko Mitarashi," said Fujitaka as though it explained everything. "She's known as the most bloodthirsty shinobi in all of Konoha. She's probably the most bloodthirsty shinobi in the entire continent for all we know. Besides, we all know that Ranma's receiving special training from several Jounin. She might just be one of them."

"I suppose. Come on. Let's hand in our forms before a line starts to form."

Misami and Fujitaka silently agreed and walked after Kaname, who went into the covered booth. Inside, they saw a Chuunin sitting behind a small table with a box on top of it. Once they handed in their scrolls, the Chuunin reached into the box, pulled out a scroll, and handed it to the group. Misami took the scroll and hid it within her clothes before Kaname or Fujitaka could see it. "It's better if we look at it later," she said before the other two could speak. "That way we won't blurt it out even by mistake."

They nodded, left the tent and walked straight to Ranma who was just finishing his form. "Hey guys, what's up?"

"What was up with the examiner earlier?" asked Fujitaka. "Was she giving you some last minute advice or something?"

"Not really," replied Ranma. "All she said was that I've got my work cut out for me and that I'm the first in a long time to take the exam alone."

"That's all?"

He paused for a moment to think and replied moments later. "Yeah, that's pretty much all that she said." Now, Ranma was a terrible liar but he wasn't exactly lying and he knew it. Technically, that was all that Anko had said to him. If they asked him if anything else happened then that was another story altogether. "Anyway, I better hand this in and grab my scroll," he said, not wanting to risk them asking more questions. "Catch you guys later."

Ranma fell in line behind the rest of the Genin teams and waited until he got into the booth. Once inside, the Chuunin only asked, "Did Anko-san already give you your scroll?" Ranma nodded. "Alright. All I can say is good luck. You'll need it."

"Thanks."

Ranma left the booth and stood amongst the assembled Genin as Anko began to explain the rules. "The first rule for this exam is that you must make it to the tower at the center of the forest within five days."

"Five days? What will we do about food?" one of the Genin yelled but immediately shut up when Anko threw a kunai in his direction, cutting off a few strands of hair in the process.

"First of all, don't interrupt me. Second, that's a forest. There's a lot of food to be found inside so I suggest you live off the land. Can't adapt? Well too bad. The second rule is that you must get to the tower with both the Heaven and Earth scrolls in your team's possession unless of course you have the Dragon scroll instead. Obviously, you'll need to take your second scroll from another team. I don't care how you do it so long as you do it without breaking the rules."

"The third rule," she continued, "Is that your team must be complete. If one member of you team is killed for whatever reason then you immediately fail. And the fourth rule is that you must not open the Heaven, Earth or Dragon scroll or scrolls in your possession."

"What happens if we do open it?"

Anko simply smirked and said, "Maybe you should open it and find out. Then everyone here can see what happens if you do." Anko's smirk only grew wider when the Genin quickly shook her head. "Thought so. Anyway, I have one last piece of advice for you all before we begin the exam." She paused, looked around and noticed that she had everyone's attention. "Don't die."

As soon as she said those words, several Chuunin appeared all around them. "These guys will escort you to your respective gates and will open the gates to let you brats begin the exam when the time comes. Now get moving."

Each team left, accompanied by a single Chuunin examiner, and waited in front of a gate, which led into the forest. Once they reached their gate, Misami pulled out the scroll and held it out for Fujitaka and Kaname to see. "Whoa, I don't believe it," breathed out Fujitaka.

"I know," replied Kaname. "Talk about luck. I can't believe we got a Dragon scroll. Now we won't need to fight another team."

"That's true but we'll still need to be careful." Misami returned the scroll into the pocket inside her jacket and turned to her teammates. "I've got a bad feeling about this test and as much as I don't want to say this, we'll have to be careful of Ranma as well. Even more so than the other teams."

"What? How come?"

"Dispel." Immediately after she said this, the Genjutsu around Misami was dispelled and revealed an active Byakugan. "I've had it activated since the first group entered the tent just in case we needed to target a specific group."

"What does this have to do with Ranma?"

"When he entered the tent, the Chuunin inside didn't give him a scroll. Instead, the man asked if Anko-san had given Ranma his scroll and then wished him luck."

"So?"

Misami sighed. "Didn't you learn anything from the first exam? Think, why would the examiner give Ranma his scroll and not inside the tent? The Chuunin inside obviously knew about it so why would she give it to him directly instead of letting the Chuunin give it to him?"

"The only explanation would be if the scroll wasn't a Heaven, Earth or Dragon scroll but something else entirely," said the only remaining male member of the team.

"Another is why he was suddenly removed from the team." This time Kaname spoke. "I really don't get why they did it. I mean, if it was because we were a four-man team, why not place him on a team with only two members?"

"I wonder what was in that scroll he got if it wasn't a Heaven, Earth or Dragon scroll."

Before anything else could be said, the Chuunin called for them to get ready and seconds later, the gate was open and the team rushed into the forest.

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Two gates away, Ranma held the scroll that Anko had given him and read the instructions written inside it. "Sounds simple enough," he commented and put the scroll away. "I've only got five days to do it so I better start searching."

Focusing his Chi to the best of his ability, wisps of white energy slowly poured out of his body and traveled to eight different spots around him. The energy gathered in those eight areas and began to solidify until the figure of a person could be clearly seen where the energy gathered. The energy continued to gather and seemingly solidify until a few minutes later, eight more Ranmas stood around the original.

Almost as soon as he finished performing his technique, Ranma fell to his knee and sweat poured down his face and onto the forest floor. "Damn, that was hard." He took a few more seconds before he stood and addressed his clones. "Alright guys, you know what to look for. I'll head straight for the tower and set up traps for the other teams in case a team with what we need gets to the tower before you find them. The rest of you spread out to look for those teams. I doubt we'll have trouble but just in case you take on a powerful team, flare your aura so that we can find you."

"Now, let's go."

With nods all around, the nine Ranmas left the starting point, one running at full speed to the tower while the other eight left to search for their objective, all nine having the same thought. 'This should be easy.'

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'I take it back, this is hard.' Ranma's clones had been searching for any team that might have the scroll they needed but alas, the teams they all saw had the wrong scroll or already had their scroll taken by another team. The teams in the latter category tried to attack them but they left quickly, not wanting to waste time by fighting a team they didn't need to fight.

Of course, there were some persistent teams who had managed to prevent Ranma from escaping and thus were beaten down and had their scrolls taken, leaving two Ranma clones with their own scroll, an Earth scroll from a team from Suna, a Heaven scroll from a team of Kiri Genin and a Dragon scroll from a trio of Kusa-nin. The first two were currently being held by one clone while the bearer of the Dragon scroll was with another.

Ranma's clone, the one with the Earth and Heaven scroll, was about to continue his search when he sensed someone approaching. "Ranma?" He turned around and saw Misami standing there with Fujitaka and Kaname close behind.

"Not really," replied the clone. "I'm just one of his clones he sent to look for the scroll we needed."

"I see. Did this team have what you needed?"

"They had an Earth scroll so no, they didn't. The last team didn't have the scroll I needed earlier. What about you guys?" he asked, changing the subject before they could ask the wrong questions. "What scroll do you need?"

"We don't need another scroll," said Kaname in an excited tone. "We got lucky and got one of the Dragon scrolls."

Unnoticed by her teammates or the Ranma clone, Misami's eyes narrowed by a tiny fraction when she saw something suspicious with her Byakugan. 'His heartbeat skipped a beat and his body grew tense,' she noted as she watched the target of her suspicion. 'Could he be another shinobi under a Transformation? No, I would have seen through the disguise already. Still, it's better to be safe than sorry.'

Misami snapped out of her thoughts when she caught the end of Ranma's clone's statement. "How about a trade?" he asked reached into his pocket, and took out the Heaven and Earth scroll he took from the two teams he had beaten. "Your Dragon scroll for one Earth scroll and one Heaven scroll. How about it?"

'Something is definitely wrong here,' was the single thought of Misami when she heard this.

Fujitaka and Kaname, however, simply burst out laughing. "Nice one Ranma," said Fujitaka in between bursts of laughter. "That was a good joke."

"But seriously," said Kaname. "No way we're taking that trade. I can understand you wanting the special prize but we want it just as much you know. Still, good joke."

"I wasn't joking."

Not even Fujitaka could have missed the serious tone in the voice of the clone. He was puzzled by his friend's odd behavior, and Misami and Kaname were no different. Thinking that it may have been a trap, Fujitaka drew a kunai from his pouch while Kaname attempted to undo the Genjutsu she assumed they were placed in. "It's not an illusion or even a Transformation as Misami could tell you," explained the clone. "No, this is real. Just give me the Dragon scroll, I'll give you my Heaven and Earth scroll, and I'll leave."

"Come on Ranma, stop kidding around. We've got to get to the tower to complete this mission."

"Yeah, why would you want the Dragon scroll anyway? Asides from the special prize there's really no difference."

"You want to know why I want the Dragon scroll?" asked the clone, delving into the soul of ice to keep himself from losing his composure. "I want it, because I need it."

"What do you mean, you want it because you need it? That doesn't make any sense at all."

"No, it makes perfect sense."

"Misami?"

"He received a scroll directly from the proctor so it would stand to reason that it was not a Heaven, Earth or Dragon scroll seeing as the scroll we received was randomly drawn from a box. They could not risk giving Ranma's scroll to one of the Genin teams by mistake so they gave it to him directly," explained Misami. "It's obvious why he was taken away from our team. It was because he was so much stronger than any other Genin team. I assume that his part in this test is different so that the Hokage can test him more than the rest of the Genin."

"And his test is to collect the Dragon scrolls?" asked Kaname, finally catching on.

"That's right. And the reason for the prize was so that those in possession of one would fight harder to prevent Ranma from taking it."

"If that's the case then just give it to him," said the red eyed Genin. "We can just take the Heaven and Earth scrolls he has in exchange."

Fujitaka just nodded in agreement and waited for Misami's inevitable agreement as well. Eventually she nodded as well and pulled out the scroll from inside her clothes. Before Ranma could take it, however, Misami threw it high up into the trees where it disappeared above the leaves.

Misami ignored Fujitaka and Kaname's sudden shouts of surprise and protest, and smirked at Ranma's clone. "If you want the scroll, you'll have to fight us for it."

"Cut it out Misami, I don't want to fight you guys."

"He's right Misami, we don't have to fight," argued Kaname. "We have to save our strength in case we meet up with another team. Just give him the scroll, we take his and we'll head for the tower."

"I agree." Fujitaka stepped forward in between Misami and Ranma, with his back to Ranma's clone. "Let's just do the exchange so we can head for the tower."

"You guys don't get it do you?" asked the pale eyed Hyuuga with a grin. "This is our chance. This is our chance to fight Ranma and not worry about Kurenai-sensei stopping us before we get hurt. I know you two have thought about it before. This is our chance, not just to fight Ranma, but to see just how far we've come the past two months as a team."

"Misami we-"

"I agree."

"Kaname? Not you too."

"Look Fujitaka, I want to fight Ranma just as much as Misami does. I mean come on Hokage-sama has to use his red Chakra whenever he fights Ranma. How many people does he use that much power for training? None and that's also how many people fight against him and live when he uses that Chakra."

"Going by that don't you think that we wouldn't stand a chance?" he asked, hoping to dissuade his teammates from fighting Ranma.

"That's exactly why I want to fight him," replied Kaname. "I want to see just where I stand in comparison to Ranma and the Hokage."

Fujitaka heard the clone sigh from behind him then said, "You might as well join them." Fujitaka spun around to face the Ranma clone with something akin to confusion on his face. "It's obvious that I'm not getting the scroll without a fight. And if what I saw was right, that scroll she tossed up into the trees was a storage scroll. Unless Misami uses her blood to unseal the Dragon scroll, it won't matter if I jump up there and take it since I can't take the Dragon scroll just the same."

"But-"

"We might as well just fight it out. Who knows? You might actually get lucky and beat me." They saw the clone suddenly tense and look towards the direction of the tower before it turned back to look at them. "Looks like the others managed to get another scroll. All that's left is to take yours and find the last one."

"You're welcome to try," replied Misami with a smirk. "After all, it only takes one solid hit to defeat a clone."

"Haven't you learned by now not to underestimate me?" asked the clone with Ranma's trademark grin plastered on its face. "Anyway, let's get this out of the way. We've got an exam to finish."

Before any of them could react, the clone suddenly disappeared from where it stood. "Jump." Misami's warning was all they needed and the trio jumped in different direction just as the ground where they once stood was destroyed by a punch from Ranma's clone. "I've never seen him move this fast before," whispered Misami to herself. "Still, we can't back out now."

"Well said."

Misami quickly jumped at the sound of a voice coming from so close to her position and landed on a branch several feet away. 'I didn't even see him move,' thought Misami, trying to keep her heart from bursting out of her chest from the surprise of the clone's sudden appearance. 'Is this how it is to fight someone as strong as a Kage?'

"Come on Misami, just give me the scroll," said the clone firmly. "I really don't want to have to fight you guys."

"You may not want to, but we do."

From all around the clone countless shuriken and kunai flew at him at great speeds. The clone briefly looked down to see more projectiles coming at him. He quickly broke off the branch above him, grabbed it and leapt off the branch, spinning the branch in his hands to intercept the weapons in his path. He discarded the branch, which now resembled a pincushion, and rebounded off the tree trunk in his path.

He rebounded off a branch, this time flying straight towards the ground and, along the way, Kaname. He flew past her and as he did, he broke the branch that she was crouching on and caused her to fall towards the ground as well.

Fujitaka, who saw all this, leapt from his hiding place, landed on another branch, and caught Kaname as she flew by no more than two seconds later. "Wind Release: Blade of Wind." Fujitaka looked over his shoulder only to see the clone standing behind him, two of his fingers covered with wind Chakra. Fujitaka quickly jumped off the branch just as the clone lunged forward and slashed right where Fujitaka previously was.

Instead of following them, the Ranma clone did a backflip to avoid the deadly Gentle Fist that the Hyuuga clan was known for. Misami quickly spun around and attacked just as the clone landed on the branch once more. Instead of hitting her mark, the clone bend back at the waist, causing her hand to pass harmlessly over the clone. Placing its hands on the branch, the clone lifted its legs up and wrapped them around Misami's outstretched arm and dragged it off to the side.

Misami was too surprised by this that she was unable to react, thus causing her to fall off the side of the branch after her arm was released by the clone. Thinking quickly, Misami corrected herself in mid-air and managed to land on her feet without any difficulties. When she looked up, however, the clone was no where to be found. Moments later, Fujitaka and Kaname joined her on the ground where the stood with their backs together.

"Misami, can you find him?" asked Fujitaka, preparing to form handseals for his technique the moment they found Ranma.

"I don't see him anywhere," she replied, searching as far as her Byakugan would allow but to no avail. "He doesn't appear to be anywhere nearby."

"You sure he's not hiding high up in the trees?"

"No, I doubt he'd go that far just to avoid my Byakugan. He still needs the scroll so he'll be waiting for us to make a mistake. That way he won't have to fight for too long."

"That makes sense. Although, that's not exactly what he's got planned."

"Why's that?"

When there was no reply, Misami was about to ask once more but then she realized too late that she wasn't speaking to Fujitaka. She was speaking to Ranma's clone. Apparently Fujitaka and Kaname realized this sooner as they had jumped away, leaving the clone standing beside Misami. Before she could jump away, the clone grabbed a kunai from Misami's pouch and slashed at Misami.

Misami managed to jump away in time to avoid getting hurt by the attack. She quickly turned around to face the clone, drew her arm back, lunged at the clone, and quickly delivered a palm thrust towards the clone's heart. She was prepared to follow-up her attack as soon as the clone dodged or parried her attack or if needed, she could use the Heavenly Spin to blast him away. What she didn't expect was for him to not to do anything and was hit by her attack. She was surprised, yet again, when the clone didn't disappear after being struck by the attack and instead fell to the ground as though dead.

She was about to check if they had actually been fighting the real Ranma when the clone suddenly sat up, causing her to jump back slightly. "Thanks for that Misami," said the clone. "Now I can get the Dragon scroll." The clone reached into its pocket, pulled out one Heaven scroll and one Earth scroll, and placed them both on the ground.

"Wait, what do you mean?" asked Kaname while Fujitaka prepared to attack the clone just in case.

With a grin plastered onto its face, the clone pulled out another scroll, this time it was the storage scroll that Misami threw into the trees. He unrolled the scroll and when he found the item he was looking for, wiped the scroll on his shirt. A puff of smoke later and the Dragon scroll was now in the clone's possession.

The trio looked closely at Ranma's shirt and, although it was red, managed to spot a darker shade of red right where he . Misami suddenly looked down at her hand and noticed that her palm was smeared lightly with blood, her blood. "But how… the kunai, of course. You didn't miss. You were aiming for my hand at that time, didn't you?"

If it was possible, the grin on the clone's face only got wider. "Right, too bad you didn't figure it out earlier. But like I said, I don't want to have to fight you guys. Anyway, I should get going now. I've still got one scroll to find. See you guys at the Tower."

Before they could get another word in, the clone was gone.

They all sighed in defeat, and slumped to the ground. They looked at each other and silently agreed on one thing. They were completely outclassed by Ranma. They simply sat there for a while and thought about how they felt after getting the fight they wanted. They wanted to fight him ever since their mission to Suna where they saw just how powerful Ranma was. However, each time they made a request, he shot them down. He claimed that there was a right time and place to fight, and that they should avoid unnecessary fights.

After the fight, they expected that they would be satisfied that they finally got the fight they wanted. But instead, they felt disappointment. It wasn't because the fight was short, nor was it because Ranma didn't fight them with full power. It was because they were disappointed in themselves.

They thought that they could at least give him a descent challenge, that they could make him take the fight seriously. They were disappointed because even though they had come far with their training, it simply didn't amount to even remotely close to what Ranma was capable of. To attain Ranma's level, even if it took the three of them combined, had been their goal for when they took the Chuunin exam.

If Ranma could do it in eighteen years, why couldn't they, a trio who had been training to be shinobi from a young age, reach that level with their combined abilities, right? Obviously, they had thought wrong. While they could put up a good fight against Kurenai, and sometimes get lucky and beat her, Ranma was simply that much better than they were. According to Kurenai, Ranma wouldn't even need to try to fight against someone of her level. "Not even Kakashi would stand a chance if Ranma fought seriously," she had told them one day.

Now it was glaringly obvious to them that even if they could beat Kurenai on some days and, as the Genjutsu specialist had claimed, possibly Kakashi without his Sharingan, they were still a long way away from beating Ranma.

"We should go," stated the redhead Genjutsu specialist of the team. She stood up first and with nods from her teammates, they stood up as well. "Even if we have five days, I'd rather sleep inside than stay out here any longer."

"Agreed."

REVIEWREVIEWREVIEWREVIEWREVIEW

Close to the tower, a group of red clad teens was standing in front of another red clad teen. Four of the clones broke away from their group, took out a scroll from inside their clothing and handed it to the original Ranma. "Looks like now we can get in," said Ranma, putting all four Dragon scrolls into his subspace pocket. "See you guys around." All eight clones turned into wisps of white energy before those wisps dissipated into the air. Making sure that he didn't leave anything behind, Ranma ran off towards the tower.

Once inside the tower, he found himself face to face with the head examiner, Anko Mitarashi. "I didn't expect to see you here until at least tomorrow. Still, nice to see you made it alright. Do you have it?"

Ranma nodded, pulled out the Dragon scrolls one at a time, and handed them to Anko who opened the scrolls to verify that they were real. Once she was satisfied, she gestured to Ranma with her finger to follow her. "Since you wouldn't understand what the point of this exam was without a Heaven and Earth scroll I'm going to explain it to you."

"The Earth scroll represents your body," she began as they walked through the tower's hallway, walking past a group of Chuunin making their way to the exit. "And the Heaven scroll represents your mind. If you have Heaven but not Earth, then train your body. If you have Earth but not Heaven, train your mind. If you have both Heaven and Earth then you will succeed in every task."

"So the point of this exam was to show that being strong is useless if you're stupid and being smart is useless if you're too weak?"

"That's one way of putting it. Anyway, this is where you'll be staying until the second exam ends." She opened a door to her right which led into another hallway with numerous doors along the sides. "These doors lead to bedroom for the teams who make it this far. The second exam won't officially end until the end of the fifth day so you should take this time to rest, train, or whatever you want to do. Just remember that you aren't allowed to leave otherwise you'll be taken out of the exam."

Ranma nodded and proceeded to walk towards the nearest door. He opened it and was halfway into the room when he stopped, and turned around to face Anko. "You know," he started, causing her to pause and look at him. "I've heard a lot of things about you, Anko-san. People say you're the most bloodthirsty Jounin in Konoha, probably even in the entire continent. Doesn't seem like it though. You're actually pretty nice."

Anko looked a bit stunned for a moment before she grinned widely and said, "If you told me that about twenty-five years ago, you'd already be stuck to the wall with kunai through your clothes with another in my hand right between your legs. Still, war can change a person, kid. But just because I seem nice now doesn't mean I'm the same in a fight. Who knows? Maybe I'm worse than what people have been saying." Her grin just got wider, if it was even possible, before she turned around completely and walked away, leaving Ranma alone in the hallway.

For some reason, Ranma shivered involuntarily. Whether it was because of what she's said or not was unknown but Ranma knew one thing for certain. 'I'm not gonna be stupid enough to try and figure that out with a fight.'

With another shiver, Ranma walked into the room and collapsed on the bed, ready to get some rest. Unfortunately for him, the bed was already occupied.

Everyone in the Forest of Death stopped what they were doing, whether it was fighting against an opposing Genin team, awaiting the arrival of the other Genin teams, or making preparations for the end of the second exam, and looked in the direction of the tower where they all could have sworn they heard someone scream followed by a loud yell of, 'Pervert!' Barely a second later, they all heard what sounded like a loud slapping noise followed by loud crashing noises, explosions and screams of pain.

"Why me?"

_END CHAPTER_

**And this is the end for this chapter. To be honest, we feel like this chapter doesn't reach the standards of the previous chapters. Maybe it's just us, but something just feels off with this chapter. We've read it over and over, and no matter what we change, it still feels like there's something wrong with it. Anyway, the first two exams are over.**

**Now, here's where you guys get to help with the story. Obviously due to the many teams that passed the first exam, there'll still be a lot left after the second exam, which means that there will be preliminaries to cut them down even further. **

**To be honest, we're both too lazy AND too busy to come up with more OCs for this part of the story so here it is. We want you guys to create an OC specifically for the exams. Give us the name, appearance, village, and abilities of the OC. Of course, there can't be any Cloud or Rock shinobi. Send it by e-mail, PM or even in a review if you want. **

**There will be 22 shinobi at the preliminaries so there are 12 open slots for your OCs. The ten spots that are taken are Ranma, Kaname, Fujitaka, Misami and six other shinobi who will be needed for this story. The rest are open for you guys to decide on who it will be. The 12 OCs have to be from one of these villages, Leaf, Sand or Mist. **

**Of course, it goes without saying that the OCs shouldn't be super powerful as these guys, save for Ranma, are just Genin. Of course, the one who goes up against Ranma will definitely get a power boost to make things a bit more interesting. **

**A great, big thanks in advance for helping us with this. Don't worry, all your OCs, so long as there are 12 or less, will be given a chance to show what they can do. Try to be specific regarding their abilities, speed, strength, nin-gen-tai-ken-jutsu abilities and such, as it would make it easier for us to place them in a fight if we knew these. Again, thanks.**

**Please click on the 'GO' button at the bottom of the page and tell us what you think of this chapter. Like it? Hate it? Love it? Despise it? Comment? Suggestion? Flames? Criticisms? Any and all is welcome as nothing you say can discourage us, only motivate us to write better, if we can.**

**Until the next chapter then.**


	23. Arc 2 Chapter 13

Terms of Engagement

Terms of Engagement

By Overlord of Order and Overlord of Chaos

**SUMMARY: What if many of the on-goings involving Genma and Nodoka was all a hoax? What if most of what they've said was a lie? What reason could they have to lie to so many people? What does it have to do with Ranma's future?**

**Hey guys, sorry for the really late update. Writing this chapter was harder than we thought because of the contents of a flashback in this chapter, which will explain some things from the past that some of you may have been wondering about. All the fights will be in this chapter instead of two separate chapters. Also, just so you're all aware, this chapter will be at least twice as long as our other chapters.**

**Between our schoolwork, housework and school projects, we barely had time to write even during the holidays. Still, we finally managed to finish this chapter even though it took a few months. We also fixed the previous chapters and added a few scenes just for additional content. It was nothing too major, but just so that it wasn't focused completely on the main plot from time to time.**

**Also, a great big thanks to those who submitted an OC. It not only made it easier for us when it came to filling in the rest of the teams, but it also made it more enjoyable to write this chapter. We certainly hope that we managed to write your OC the way you wanted them to appear or at least as close as we could. If you have any complaints regarding your character, please tell us so we can change it for you.**

**Well, here's the next chapter. Enjoy.**

_Arc 2: Ninja Training_

_Chapter 13: Shadows of the Past_

"Whoa, look at that guy."

"What the hell happened?"

"Damn, that guy must be really strong if he made it this far with all those injuries."

"I bet he's like a mummy under his clothes with all those bandages on."

"If the third exam is what I think it is then he won't make it too far."

"Why's that?"

Ranma sighed and walked past the group of Genin standing near the doorway. It was finally the fifth day and all the Genin who made it to the tower in time and with their scrolls were asked to proceed into the tower. The group he had just past wasn't the first group to stare or comment on his current appearance. He was dressed in the clothes he usually wore, save for his shirt which was dark blue instead of the usual red.

"What the hell happened to you?" he heard a familiar voice ask him from behind. "Don't tell me someone actually managed to hurt you before you got into the tower."

"Hey guys," he said, turning around to face the familiar trio composed of Misami, Kaname and Fujitaka. "Nah, I got hurt after I got into the tower."

The trio of Genin shared a puzzled look with one another before Kaname asked the question on their minds. "How'd you manage that? Did you get into a fight with the examiner?"

Ranma paused for a moment and hesitantly said, "You could say that."

The three Genin perked up at that and they simultaneously asked, "So is she really as bloodthirsty as the rumors say?"

"Bloodthirsty?" Ranma gave the three of them a confused look that clearly said he had gotten lost. "Are we talking about the same examiner?"

"It is Anko-san right?" Asked Misami, looking just as confused as Ranma. "I mean come on, who else could possibly beat you up like that."

"Try your cousin," Ranma replied, carefully shifting his weight over to his right side, wincing a bit when he did so. "She's much stronger than she looks."

"How did you get into a fight with Kotoko of all people?"

Ranma winced once more at the memory of the event from five days ago. "Let's just say that from now on I'm making sure that there's nobody on the bed before I decide to sleep in it."

Before their conversation could go any further, the voice of Anko Mitarashi rang throughout the room. "Alright you brats, I'll assume that all the Genin teams are here so we'll move on with the exam. But before that, the Hokage has a few words to say."

Up on the balcony, walking out from behind Anko, was none other than Naruto Uzumaki, the Rokudaime Hokage of Konoha. He, as usual, was wearing the complete Hokage garb and looked every bit the part of a Hokage. What caught Ranma's attention was the serious look on Naruto's face. He had never seen Naruto so serious before and it made him wonder what he was about to say.

Walking alongside Naruto was a familiar auburn haired girl. Upon seeing her, six pairs of eyes widened while Ranma simply waved up at her, receiving a nod in return. The group of six that had recognized her looked towards each other and nodded, signaling that they would talk about it later.

"First of all," began Naruto, taking the role of Hokage seriously, something that Ranma rarely saw. "I'd like to congratulate you all on making it this far. But before we move on with the exam, I would like to explain to you all the purpose of this exam. Contrary to what you all think, it's not simply to see who is worthy of becoming Chuunin. These exams are also a substitute for war."

Murmurs went all around the crowd of Genin upon hearing that and Naruto was quick to silence it. "Wars are fought for many reasons. One of the reasons involves proving which village or country is superior. But with war comes death, death of both shinobi and civilians alike. The Chuunin and Jounin exams are a way of proving which country is superior by pitting their Genin against each other."

"Why Genin, you ask? Well for one thing, Genin are less destructive." There were a few chuckles from all around but inside, Naruto was wondering if it was a good idea to put Ranma into the exam. "Another is because these Genin will eventually grow to become Chuunin and then Jounin. Powerful Genin will grow into more powerful Chuunin and Jounin. All in all, this is a show of strength. And as we all know, nobody is willing to hire weak shinobi. Therefore, this is also a way to bring in more business to your respective villages."

"However, not all of you will get to show off your strength in the third part of the Chuunin exam. At the moment there are eight Genin teams plus Ranma Saotome, the only Genin to take this exam by himself, for a total of twenty-five participating Genin. Because of this, we will be holding a preliminary exam to further cut down the number of participating Genin."

At this point, Anko took over once again. She jumped down from the balcony and landed in front of the Genin. "Before we begin the preliminaries, is there anyone here who wishes to quit? Take note that there is no need to worry about your teammates as they will not be taken out of the exam should you decide to quit at this point."

After a few moments of discussion, one Genin slowly raised her hand as though unsure of her own decision. Anko looked at the girl's forehead protector then down to the clipboard in her hands. "Yuko Takeba of the Sand?" The girl nodded, and Anko crossed off the name from her list. "Anyone else want to quit?"

Two other shinobi, one from Ame and another from Konoha, raised their hands, and left after wishing their teammates good luck. "Alright, the electronic board up there will display two names at random and those two will fight each other for a chance to advance to the third and final round of the Chuunin exams." Anko paused for a while before she continued her speech. "The rules are simple. The two will fight until one of the two fighters forfeit, is knocked out, or is killed. But if I decide that the fight is over, then the fight is over. No arguments."

She looked up to the wall and watched as the first two names were displayed, Sanzo Shikimori and Shiro Nishida. "Those two please get ready while the rest of you get up there and wait for your turn."

The rest of the Genin jumped up to the upper levels of the room, walked over to their respective Jounin instructors, and looked down upon the two fighters. Ranma walked on over to another side of the room where he met up with Satsuki. "So, how was the academy and training the last five days?"

"It was fine. But did you have to arrange for me to train with those two freaks? Even worse, did you have to arrange for me to stay over at one of the freaks' home while you took the exam?"

"Well, those two are the only ones I could get on short notice. Besides, it couldn't have been that bad, right?"

Satsuki's eyebrow twitched and she said, "When I was called up for our weekly taijutsu practice matches yesterday, I said, 'I'll beat you this time Hisami, and prove that my youthful flames burns brighter than yours.' I don't think I can ever remember being more humiliated in my entire life."

Ranma had burst out laughing after she repeated what she had said at the academy. Those words were something he had never expected to hear coming out of Satsuki's mouth. He even brought up an image of Satsuki with thick eyebrows, a bowl cut, and wearing the same green spandex as Gai and Lee. That image only served to make him laugh louder than ever, calling attention to himself from those around him.

"It's not funny," said Satsuki, stomping her foot hard on the floor. While it caused her to look like a child about to throw a tantrum, the force of the stomp caused the floor to crack under the pressure, making her more intimidating than an ordinary eight year old throwing a tantrum. "Maybe you should train with them for a while. Then we'll see who's laughing at who."

Before their conversation could go on any longer, the voice of Anko rang throughout the room. "First match, Sanzo Shikimori versus Shiro Nishida, begin."

Both fighters immediately went into action. Shiro, a Suna-nin with short brown hair, immediately began forming handseals while Sanzo, a Kiri-nin with dirty blonde hair and bright green eyes, pulled out a sealing scroll. Cutting his finger with his kunai, Sanzo ran his finger along the scroll, causing several items to pop out of the scroll. Once the smoke cleared, everybody say several barrels surrounding the young Mist shinobi.

Not wanting to find out what was inside those barrels, Shiro rushed to finish the handseals while Sanzo moved towards the barrels. "Wind Release: Tornado Blade Dance Technique." A twister razor sharp winds blasted towards Sanzo and the barrels, who only grinned and jumped out of the way. Shiro, not seeing the grin, grinned as well when he saw his technique rip through the barrels with ease to reveal that the contents of the barrel was… water.

"Thanks for saving me the trouble of opening them up," said Sanzo, forming handseals for his technique. "Water Clone Technique." The water on the floor rose up, took a human form before gaining some color and turning into an exact copy of the Kiri-nin. Where there was one, there now stood five.

Drawing a kunai in each hand, Sanzo and his clones spread out before rushing towards the Suna-nin from five directions. Shiro drew his own kunai, and watched each of his five opponents as best he could, keeping an eye on the real Sanzo, who stood to his right. When the first of his opponents got within range, he crouched down to avoid the twin slashes from the side, and stabbed with his kunai. His opponent turned out to be a clone, collapsing and turning into water once more.

He rolled forward to avoid the pincer attack from two more clones, spinning around, and releasing a hail of shuriken that caused both clones to turn into water. He raised his kunai in a defensive position, stopping Sanzo's kunai mere centimeters from his face. He pushed Sanzo away, and spun on his heel, avoiding what could have been a fatal blow but still receiving a small cut on his cheek.

He shot his elbow back, hitting the clone in the gut before following up by stabbing it in the skull, turning it into water once more. "What now?" he asked, turning to the Mist shinobi. "Going to make more clones?"

"No, this." Sanzo rushed towards Shiro, preparing to engage the boy in close combat.

Shiro prepared to defend himself when suddenly, "Water Release: Water Prison Technique."

"What?" he managed to gasp out in surprise when the water around his feet rose up around him, holding him in a spherical prison made of water. He turned around, and saw another Sanzo standing there, his hand inside the prison. He looked back to the one he was fighting just in time to see it turn into water.

"Examiner, this fight is over," declared Sanzo, showing that in his free hand was an explosive tag, held right beside the spherical prison.

Seeing that there was no way out for the Sand shinobi without endangering his life, Anko cleared her throat and said, "Winner, Sanzo Shikimori of Kiri." With his victory made official, Sanzo relinquished his hold over the prison, and walked back up to his team, Shiro doing the same with his head down.

Soon after the winner was declared, the names began to shuffle around once more until it came to a stop. Kaname Kimura versus Ina Nanao. "Wish me luck," said Kaname to her team and then proceeded to jump down from the catwalk. Nearby, the Suna kunoichi did the same.

The two kunoichi faced off against each other as Anko looked between the two of them. "Ready?" Both fighters nodded. "Match two, Kaname Kimura versus Ina Nanao, begin."

As soon as the last word left Anko's lips, Kaname reached into her pouch and threw a handful of shuriken towards the raven-haired girl. Reacting quickly, Ina reached for a scroll, unrolled it just a little bit, bit her thumb, and smeared some blood on the scroll. A puff of smoke enveloped the area in front of her, and the sound of metal striking metal could be heard around the room.

"Cutting Whirlwind Technique." Kaname jumped out of the way as blades of wind ripped through the place where she previously stood. She turned to face her opponent just as the smoke dispersed, and saw a large fan in her hands, open halfway. "You'll have to do better than that if you want to beat me," said the Sand kunoichi. "I doubt I'll need to use full power to beat a weakling like you."

"A weakling? Me?" asked Kaname, pulling out a scroll of her own with a smirk. "Says the girl who uses a fan to fight. Let me show you what a real weapon looks like." She repeated the same motions that Ina had done, and summoned a weapon from her scroll, covered by an unusually large amount of smoke.

While she waited for the smoke to clear, Ina grew anxious. She wondered what kind of weapon the Leaf kunoichi would be wielding in the fight. When the smoke finally cleared, she wondered if fighting the red-haired girl was such a good idea. "Still want to fight me?" asked Kaname, brandishing her weapons with her hands. "You may be able to knock away kunai, shuriken, senbon and other smaller weapons, but I doubt you can blow this away."

Indeed, Ina was wondering whether she should concede the fight, or not. She wasn't an expert when it came to weapons asides from standard shinobi gear, and battle fans, but even she could tell that Kaname was experienced with using her weapon of choice, a pair of zanbato.

She had heard of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist. She had heard about how some of them used a zanbato. She had seen other shinobi using a zanbato, and had even fought against one in the past, coming out victorious with the help of her team. But to see a girl, no more than thirteen years of age, using not one, but two zanbato was more than enough to give her a scare. In addition, she certainly didn't look like she was bluffing.

"So you can use a pair of zanbato, so what?" she asked with a slightly shaky voice. "You're probably too slow now that you're carrying all that weight. Wind Release: Great Breakthrough."

With a powerful swing of her fan, a powerful gust of wind made its way towards the redhead. But before the attack could hit, Kaname blurred out of existence and reappeared several meters to the right. "Is that the best you can do?" she asked lazily, resting one of her swords on her shoulder while she held the other one parallel to her body. "I could beat you up in my sleep if that's all you've got."

Ina growled and swung her fan once more but just like the previous attempt, Kaname simply moved out of the way. Kaname faked a yawn and lifted her sword off her shoulder. "This is a waste of time. I'll give you one last chance to surrender. So will you? Or do I have to beat you down?"

The black haired kunoichi's only reply was a growl before she swung her fan two more times in quick succession. Kaname just leapt out of the way of the attacks before she quickly rushed forward towards Ina, holding her two swords in front of her in an X formation as a makeshift shield. Ina swung her fan once more but Kaname had already seen it coming, and dashed to the left just enough to avoid the blades of wind. When she was within range of the fan user, she ducked to avoid the last ditch attempt to hit her with the closed fan.

Instead of user her swords, Kaname rammed her shoulder into Ina's abdomen, causing the latter to relinquish her fan in exchange for clutching her abdomen. Kaname crouched down, swept Ina's legs out from under her, and followed it up by stabbing her swords into the ground where they crossed just above her neck, trapping the girl down to the ground.

Seeing that Ina wouldn't be able to do anything without risking her life, Anko stepped in. "Winner, Kaname Kimura of Konoha." There were cheers from Fujitaka as Kaname pulled her blades out from the ground, sealed them back into the scroll, and jumped back up to her team, ignoring the glares she received from the Sand kunoichi.

"Great job Kaname," cheered Fujitaka, patting her on the shoulder. "But, when the hell did you learn how to use those two swords?"

Kaname only grinned and said, "Wouldn't you like to know?"

"Third match," they all turned back down to the floor where they saw another kunoichi from Suna, this time one with sandy blonde hair, tanned skin, and dark eyes, standing in front of a Konoha shinobi, one who looked strangely familiar to many of the Konoha shinobi in the room. What caused Satsuki and Ranma's eyes to widen was the name of the leaf shinobi. "Aiko Chikyuu versus Shuu Maito, begin."

Both fighters went into motion as soon as the fight began. Both of them engaged in a pure taijutsu match, punching, kicking, jumping, dodging, and trading blows with each other for the first few minutes of the match. After a few moments, the leaf shinobi sped up significantly, catching the Suna kunoichi off guard.

Deciding that it would be in her best interest to pull back, she did so, leaping back out of attacking range. However, she didn't count on Shuu's speed, something that helped him catch up to her before she could even touch the ground. "Leaf Great Whirlwind."

Satsuki winced in sympathy for the girl who was on the receiving end of that attack. While she was certain that the boy, whatever his relation to Gai Maito was, wasn't as powerful as Gai or Lee, his taijutsu style was still a force to be reckoned with. The Strong Fist was the polar opposite of the Gentle Fist. Where the gentle fist was designed to target the enemy's chakra points and shut them down, and cause damage to the internal organs, the Strong Fist was made for causing external damage, and breaking bones. And while the kicks she received wouldn't cause any broken bones, they were certainly strong enough to send her crashing into the wall, and down to the floor.

The tan skinned girl pushed off the floor, onto her knees, and looked up to her opponent only to see him already charging at her. Seeing that she had no time, Aiko focused her Chakra and targeted the boy charging towards her. When he was only a few meters away, he suddenly stumbled for some reason, causing him to fall to the ground then roll forward due to his momentum. Everyone watching the fight had the same question but only one person voiced this. "What has happened to my youthful student?"

Everyone turned to Shuu Maito's Jounin instructor, Lee, in surprise before those who knew him turned back down to the fallen shinobi then back up to the spandex clad Jounin. "Okay, this definitely doesn't make sense," said Ranma. "How can someone be related to Gai-san _and _be the student of Lee-san, but not end up like them?"

"If you find out the answer, tell me," replied Satsuki, thinking the exact same thing.

"I didn't want to reveal this before the finals, but against someone like you I guess I have no choice," said Aiko, getting up to her feet but keeping her focus on Shuu. "The problem with speed demons like you, is that you can't move as fast while being burdened by something heavy. And unfortunately for you my special ability, or bloodline if you want to call it that, is the ability to control an object's weight. Or rather, control how gravity affects that object."

"Is that so?" asked Shuu as he thought of a plan to beat the girl in front of him. "Well unfortunately for you, I'm not just fast. I'm strong as well." Placing the palms of his hands on the floor, he slowly, and seemingly painfully, began pushing himself off the floor, causing the floor to crack under the pressure of his increased weight and his strength. "You don't train with two of Konoha's taijutsu masters and expect to come out with only strength or speed. It's both or none at all."

Aiko watched in surprise as Shuu continued to attempt to stand. Slowly but surely, he managed to get up on his hands and knees. "Well, let's see just how much of a fight you can put up while trying to stand." She quickly formed a series of handseals and called out the name of the technique, "Wind Release: Great Breakthrough." The large blast of air shot towards Shuu, who was unable to avoid the attack, and was sent flying back, crashing into the wall just as she did earlier. When he fell back to the floor, he did so with a heavy thud, and a heavily cracked floor beneath him. "Examiner, this fight is over," she said, turning to face Anko.

Anko, for her part, merely shook her head, and pointed in the direction of Shuu. Aiko raised an eyebrow in return but turned in the direction the purple haired Jounin was pointing to. Her eyes widened when she saw Shuu's body starting to move, slowly starting to stand up once again.

'I don't believe this,' she said to herself in disbelief. 'Is he actually strong enough to stand while carrying nearly twice his normal weight? Even a Chuunin would have been knocked out after being hit head on by that technique while under the influence of my ability. Well if that's the case,' her eyes narrowed as she focused even harder, causing Shuu, who was almost standing completely erect, to fall to the ground on one knee. 'Then I'll just increase the pressure.'

Aiko smirked as she watched Shuu struggle even harder to stand. Despite being pulled down to the ground by gravity three times as hard, he still managed to keep from falling flat on his face. "It's time to finish this," she said, forming handseals for her technique. "Surrender now or I'll kill you right here."

"Shuu." Said person looked up towards Lee, who was looking down at him from the catwalk with a proud look on his face accompanied by a nod. "Show them just how brightly your flames of youth burn."

With a nod he barely managed to complete, Shuu, who was once again almost completely erect, fell to the floor once more, this time of his own volition. "So you're giving up?" asked Aiko, preparing to form the last handseal just in case it was all a ruse.

"No can do. If I give up here, I'll have to do five hundred push-ups while Lee-sensei sits on my back," he replied with a grin. "You'll have to beat me down if you want to win this match."

"Then so be it." Aiko completed the last handseal, while wondering if he was serious about those push-ups, and called out, "Wind Release: Blade of Wind." She held out one hand, which was now covered in Wind element Chakra, and charged towards the struggling boy, intent on finishing him off unless the examiner called the fight off. Idly, she wondered why the examiner hadn't stepped in already. Couldn't she see that he doesn't stand a chance in his condition? 'Oh well,' she thought, 'it's not like it's a loss for Suna if he dies anyway.'

For his part, Shuu was struggling greatly against the heavy weight he was now burdened with. He only had one chance and if he blew it, well, he'd apologize to his family and sensei on the other side.

Aiko watched as Shuu struggled to do something. From her position she couldn't see what he was reaching for but it didn't matter. To her, the match was as good as hers. She only had fifteen feet to cover before she was within range to land the final blow, and the match would be over. Ten feet… five feet… four feet… three feet… two feet, she drew her arms back… one foot, she stabbed her arm forward and grinned in satisfaction as her blade was about to stab right into his head.

Before she even realized what had happened, her target disappeared, causing her to stab the concrete floor, before she was punched and kicked repeatedly in just about every place she could think of and even some places she didn't know could get hurt. For the second time that day her back was introduced to the wall of the room, right next to where she first slammed into it.

She fell to the floor in a crumpled heap. This time, it was her turn to struggle to stand up as pain racked through her body all over. She looked up and saw Shuu standing several meters away, just like he had been the first time she slammed into the wall. "H-How?" she breathed out, surprised that he could once again move so fast while still under the effect of triple gravity. "How can you still move so fast?"

All Shuu did was hold something up in front of him. She narrowed her eyes at the object in his hand, wondering what was so important about it. Seeing that she couldn't figure out what it was, Shuu grinned, and dropped it to the floor. She wondered what the importance of dropping it was and couldn't figure it out until it hit the floor… and created a decent sized crater from the impact.

Her eyes widened when she finally realized what it was he had just shown her. "Weights? You've been wearing weights this whole time?"

Shuu nodded in return, grinning like a madman. "And now that I've taken them off, I'm not as restricted as I was earlier. Those weights weigh more than I do so increasing the pull of gravity on my body won't make too much of a difference."

"In that case I should rethink my battle plan," she said, standing up straight and drawing a handful of shuriken. She threw the shuriken towards his right before throwing those in her other hand towards his left. Now the only way out was up, an escape route which he gladly took. "I've got you now," she yelled, focusing on Shuu once again.

Shuu prepared his hands, placing them in front of him, to form handseals to counter her attack if necessary. For a moment, all she did was stand there, looking at him as though she had already won. It was then that he realized something was wrong and he quickly looked back down to the ground to confirm his suspicions. 'Damn, I underestimated her. I should have realized she could do this,' he thought, confirming that his thoughts were correct.

"Finally realized it didn't you?" she asked arrogantly, pulling out a handful of shuriken in once hand, and kunai in the other. "I can not only increase gravity, I can also lower its effect. And now that you aren't going to land anytime soon, you make the perfect target."

She began throwing handfuls of shuriken and kunai towards the slowly descending Shuu, who drew a pair of his own kunai to block the incoming projectiles. 'All I have to do is wait until I get back to the floor or until she runs out of weapons,' he thought, blocking a kunai aimed for his heart and another aimed for his arm. 'After that, I just have to make sure not to jump unless I can rebound off something.'

His plan would never be put into action, however, as mere feet before he could land on the floor, he felt something wrap around him. "Wh-What?" he looked around him and saw that a pair of shuriken were circling him in opposite directions, tying him up in what he suspected was ninja wire. In mere seconds, his arms were tied to his body, and his legs were tied together, making him unable to move unless he wanted to risk cutting himself on the wire. He moved around a bit trying to reach for a weapon only for Aiko to take away his weapons before he could retrieve one from his pouch.

It was at this moment that Anko was certain that he wouldn't be getting up, thus making her announcement. "Winner, Aiko Chikyuu of Suna." She walked over to Shuu, who Aiko had left tied up on the floor. Taking out a kunai, she knelt down beside the fallen shinobi, and cut the wire, allowing him to stand once again. "Good fight brat. At least you didn't do something stupid like the first time your sensei took this exam."

Once again, everyone turned to the electronic board, ignoring Lee while he yelled about his youthful student and basically made a fool of himself. Finally, the names of the next two fighters appeared. Kenji Tsukishima versus Hanako Hongo.

Ranma carefully watched the raven haired shinobi from Ame as he jumped down. There was something about him that didn't seem quite right. And it wasn't the fact that a fourteen or fifteen year old was as tall as Ranma, or possibly even taller. Satsuki had the same feeling as she watched him face off against his opponent. He seemed familiar, almost as though she had seen him somewhere before. But where?

"That guy." She turned and looked up at Ranma, noting the somewhat serious look on his face. "There's something about him that's bothering me. I get a bad feeling when I look at him."

Now Satsuki was even more intrigued by the Ame shinobi. For him to catch Ranma's attention must mean that he was strong. Or at least, that's what Satsuki figured. One thing she knew for certain was that power attracted even more power. Someone powerful was sure to attract the attention of another powerful person, a reasoning she applied to this situation. Whether that was the case or not was yet to be seen.

However, the pair didn't get the chance to see what was so special about the shinobi. In less than five minutes the match was over. Anyone who was skilled enough knew that the fight was over the moment it started. Kenji was simply much more powerful than the Suna kunoichi. He was faster and stronger than she was. He managed to avoid every attack thrown his way and he didn't even use ninjutsu or genjutsu for the battle, if it could be called that. All in all, Ranma and Satsuki only learned that he was stronger than most of the Genin in the room. It probably would have been all the Genin had Ranma not been there.

Before they knew it, the next two names were revealed. Maki Tsukishima versus Yama Seishuku. Ranma and Satsuki watched as the girl they assumed was Kenji's sister leapt down to the lower level. Just like her brother, Maki was very tall, about the same height as her opponent, a shinobi from the mist with brown hair with a larger build. "Match five, Maki Tsukichima against Yama Seishuku, begin."

Both fighters quickly began forming handseals, watching their opponent very closely for any change of plans. The brown haired Genin from Kiri wanted to sigh in relief when he finished forming his series of handseals first. "Earth Release: Earth Dragon Missile." He took a deep breath and exhaled with his mouth wide open, letting out a large amount of earth. The earth quickly gained form, taking that of a dragon, and was closing in on its intended target.

Maki though was not to be taken out so easily, and had finished her own set of handseals. "Lightning Release: Lightning Shot." She held out her hand with her palm pointing towards the earth dragon, and a large bolt of lightning shot out from the palm of her hand. Up with his team, Fujitaka gasped when he saw that her Lightning Shot was at least twice as powerful as his own.

The lightning bolt and the earth dragon met a second later but due to its natural weakness to the lightning element, the earth dragon was torn apart by the lightning bolt as the latter continued its flight, tearing the rest of the dragon apart and coming out from behind. Yama, seeing this, ducked beneath the lightning bolt just before it struck him only to have to roll to the side to avoid a second lightning bolt.

He began forming more handseals only to be forced to jump away when another trio of lightning bolts flew past him. He quickly returned his attention to his opponent and finished forming the handseals for his next technique. "Earth Clone Technique." Once he had completed the technique, the earth that had once been a dragon gathered around him and gained form once more, his form this time.

Yama and his four clones quickly spread out, dodging and blocking the kunai and shuriken that Maki was throwing at them. Once all five were in a circle around her, they began forming handseals just as Maki did the same. "Earth Release: Earth Dragon Missile." Each of the five Yamas spat out a large amount of earth which once again took the form of dragons.

In the middle of it all, Maki finished her own technique. This time, she simply held her hand up, palm facing towards the ceiling. "Lightning Release: Lightning Cage." Normally, the technique would have been used to keep an enemy captive. Maki, however, used it for a completely different purpose. All around her, bolts of lightning shot up from the ground, forming a protective circle around her. Once again, Lightning overcame Earth as each of the dragons were completely and utterly destroyed the moment they came in contact with the cage made of lightning.

Certain that the dragons were gone, Maki formed one seal, and said, "Disperse." Each of the lightning bolts that formed the cage suddenly collapsed into a crackling ball of lightning before shooting outwards towards Yama and his clones. All four clones were destroyed, and Yama barely managed to avoid being struck by the ball of lightning.

He began forming handseals once again, this time finishing much faster than before. "Earth Release: Earth Style Wall." He opened his mouth once more, and spat out a large amount of mud, watching as it gathered in front of him to form a fifteen foot wall made completely of earth.

Maki watched and waited for her opponent to leave the safety of the wall. Although her lightning techniques could easily break down the wall, she, unlike her brother, preferred to give her opponent a chance to fight back. Of course, that didn't mean she would give them a chance to win. She was about to break the wall down when she heard her opponent's voice. "Earth Release: Earth Spike Barrage."

From right in front of her, a large earth spike emerged from the ground. Not wanting to be impaled, Maki leapt backwards and was about to return fire when another spike emerged from right in front of her. She leapt back once more only to find herself in the same situation once again.

Again and again, she continued to leap backwards or sideways to avoid being impaled by the earth spike only for another one to appear. She was about to turn around and attack the boy directly when the spikes stopped appearing. "I have you now," called out Yama. "Earth Release: Needle Eruption."

Maki's eyes widened when she saw numerous, needles made of earth begin to protrude from the earth wall, and the earth spikes, the latter which she realized surrounded her. And true to its name, countless needles erupted from the spikes and the wall, all aimed for the kunoichi from Rain. She jumped up to avoid the rain of projectiles only to find out that more needles had already taken flight and were aimed up to where she was.

Looking out from behind the wall, Yama watched as Maki was torn apart by the countless needles. Once the last of the needles had done its job, he watched as Maki's body fell lifelessly to the ground. He slowly walked over, to make sure that she was indeed dead or knocked out. Before he got to her though, his danger sense kicked in, and he jumped to his right. While he had avoided a fatal blow to any major organs, he couldn't say the same for his left arm, which had been penetrated deeply by two kunai.

He turned around, glancing briefly at the fallen body, which was now one of his own earth spikes. "Replacement," his opponent confirmed his thoughts. "Even the basics can be the most useful in many situations."

Yama ignored this, and instead waited for her to make the first move. Maki gladly took the opportunity to strike first, and rushed forward. She was fully expecting him to do something now that he saw what she was about to do, which is why it was understandable that she was confused. Instead of doing something, even pulling out a kunai to defend himself with, Yama chose to remain the way he was, unarmed and unguarded.

'Well, that's fine with me,' thought Maki as she aimed a punch to Yama's solar plexus. Her punch connected and Yama doubled over, gasping for air. Maki raised both hands up and put them together, ready to smash both hands down on the boy's back.

Yama, however, had other ideas. He quickly cocked back an arm, punched Maki in the same area as hard as he could and caused her to double over in pain as well. Moving quickly, Yama pulled out two kunai and moved into position behind the Ame kunoichi. He held one kunai up to her neck while the other was held just below her breasts, both kunai ready to kill or injure her. "Concede," he said demandingly, moving the kunai closer to her neck for emphasis.

"Concede?" asked Maki, smirking when she did so although unseen to Yama. "Why would I do that? After all, I'm not the one who's going to lose."

Before he could ask what she meant by that, he felt a finger touch his neck from behind, followed by a sudden jolt of electricity. He felt his body go limp as he fell to the ground quite painfully. His body rolled onto its back, allowing him to see Maki. Standing right beside her, was another, one he presumed to be a clone. "Don't worry," she said as she dispelled the clone and began to walk away. "The paralysis will wear off in an hour or two. Just be glad I didn't kill you as well."

"Winner, Maki Tsukishima of Ame."

Ranma's eyes followed Maki as she walked back up to her brother and her team. Maki, just like her brother, had something about her that bothered him. 'What is it?' he asked himself. 'What is it about those two that keep bothering me? My guts have never been wrong before. I'll have to watch out for them.'

"Match six." Sometime while Ranma was thinking, the next match had been decided. "Kintaro Makinoha versus Bunta Yamagata, begin."

The sixth match, much like the fourth, was quick and one-sided. And once again, Ranma had a bad feeling about the Genin from Kusa. The feeling only increased when the Kusa-nin revealed his special ability, Earth Manipulation. From what everyone could see, he could manipulate earth in any way he wanted so long as his hand was in contact with it. This, in turn, caused Satsuki's brow to furrow in thought. Just like before, she had a feeling that she knew that Genin.

As the Kusa-nin continued to play with his opponent, a Genin from Suna, Ranma thought deeply about what he'd seen. So far all three Genin that caught his attention had one thing in common so far. All three of them were significantly stronger than most of the Genin he'd seen in action so far. They were also smart enough to plan at least three or four steps ahead of their opponents, and, especially in the case of the fourth match, strong enough to overcome everything thrown their way.

Putting all his observations together, he couldn't help but feel that something was very wrong. He also couldn't help but feel that he had missed something, a very important detail that he had not taken into account. His thoughts, however, would have to be put on hold for the moment. Snapping out of his thoughts, Ranma looked down to Satsuki, who had just nudged him with her elbow, and looked up to where she was looking.

The first name on the electronic board had already registered, and Ranma grinned upon seeing that it was finally his turn to show what he could do. "I wonder who my opponent will be?" he asked out loud, watching as the names shuffled around. "With my luck it'll be a violent tomboy or someone like that."

"Be careful what you wish for," said Satsuki as the name of Ranma's opponent appeared.

"DAMN IT!"

Everyone in the room jumped at Ranma's sudden outburst, and turned to look at the aforementioned teen with looks of confusion. "What is it now?" Satsuki asked in an annoyed tone.

Instead of answering her question, Ranma turned around, walked up to the nearby wall, and began banging his head against it. "When…" He banged his head once, causing the wall to crack. "Will I learn…" He banged his head a second time, causing the cracked portion to fall off. "To keep my stupid mouth…" He banged his head against the wall once more, creating a deeper gouge in the wall. "Shut!" He banged his head one last time, stronger than ever, causing a great portion of the wall to collapse, and creating a hole about the size of his head that showed what was outside the tower.

When she was sure that Ranma was done hurting himself, or rather the wall, Satsuki walked over to him and asked, "I'll ask again. What is it now?"

"Because I gotta fight a violent tomboy," he said as though it explained everything, still leaning his forehead on the wall right beside the hole.

Satsuki just raised an eyebrow, and asked. "How would you even know that she's a violent tomboy? You've never even met her before."

"The name says it all."

Satsuki just turned around, read the name of Ranma's opponent, and turned back to her caretaker. "Akane Tendo?"

"Yes, the name explains it all," he replied with a sigh. "Oh well, at least the name is all they have in common." He took a deep breath, turned around, walked to the edge of the catwalk, and prepared to jump to the lower level when he caught sight of his opponent. "Oh come on!" he yelled once again, tilting his head back to look at the ceiling as though speaking with the Gods. "Why can't you ever give me a break?"

"What," began Satsuki, annoyed at Ranma's repeated interruptions of the exam. If she didn't know any better then she would have accused him of trying to delay or avoid the fight. "Is it now?" Instead of explaining, Ranma just sighed, and pointed to his opponent, or rather what was strapped to her back. "First it's your opponent's name, and now her weapon? Don't tell me you've never seen a battle hammer before."

Ranma didn't bother to explain but just shook his head, sighed, and accepted his fate. He jumped down to the lower level, and prepared himself for a fight against a familiar face. Taking a closer look at his opponent for the first time, he realized that she shared more in common with the Akane in his world than just her name and weapon. 'Damn, she looked just like Akane only younger,' he thought, bringing up a mental image of Akane when they first met. 'Asides from her long hair they could pass as twins. I just hope Akane doesn't decide to start using steel hammers against me when I get back home.'

"Match seven, Ranma Saotome versus Akane Tendo, begin."

Akane reached behind her and brought her hammer forward, giving Ranma the chance to examine it briefly. Unlike his world's Akane's wooden mallet, this Akane's weapon was a large steel hammer, much larger than his world's Akane's own. The hammer's face was at least two-and-a-half feet in diameter while the hammer head was about four to four-and-a-half feet in length. Akane looked towards her opponent and couldn't help but raise an eyebrow when she noticed Ranma's posture.

"Aren't you going to get into a stance or even draw a weapon?" she asked, noticing the bandages wrapped around Ranma's arms and forehead. "You are injured after all so I suggest take this fight seriously otherwise you'll end up even more hurt than you are now. That, and I'd be pretty disappointed if I have to fight someone who specializes in Ninjutsu or Genjutsu."

"Why's that?" asked Ranma, taking this momentary break to examine his opponent's stance. 'Either the hammer's just for show and she can't really use it, or she's trying to make me think that she has a huge opening in her defense,' he concluded after only a few seconds.

"Not many people would actually fight me up close because of my weapon, especially Genin. I certainly hope Konoha's shinobi are well trained. Otherwise you're nothing more than another moving target for me."

"Well, why don't you try attacking me and see for yourself?" asked Ranma, allowing his trademark smirk to appear on his face. "But then again, I doubt a violent tomboy like you could actually hurt me. Even a cat is more dangerous than you are."

'For you that is,' was the common thought of his three former teammates, his Genjutsu instructor, and the Hokage.

"What?" asked the black-blue haired girl, gripping her hammer's handle tighter in anger.

"What?" Ranma casually threw back. "Are ya deaf as well as violent? It's not just cats too. I know a panda, a duck, and a pig that could fight better than you. Hell, your probably can't even fight for real. I bet you only got your scroll by scaring off your opponents with that oversized mallet of yours."

"I dare you to say that again," she growled out through clenched teeth, grinding them against each other while gripper her hammer's handle even tighter.

"Alright, since you told me to," he replied, causing her rage to grow even more. "You're a violent tomboy who can't fight. Is that simple enough for you?"

Akane let out a strangled yell, shifting the weight of the hammer to her right hand before she began to swing it in circles around her head. After three rounds, she brought the hammer crashing down to the ground, creating a decent sized crater in front of her. "I'll show you that I _can _fight."

"Alright, go ahead. But you didn't deny that you are a violent tomboy."

"That's it," she yelled in rage, "When I'm done with you, you'll be nothing more than a-"

Suddenly, she stopped speaking, her mouth still open. Soon, her mouth closed a bit and formed a grin. "I see what you're doing," she said, still grinning at Ranma. "Your plan is to get me mad enough so that I won't be properly focused on the fight. Now that I know your plan, it won't work on me."

"Huh?" Ranma's mouth hung wide open after she finished her little speech. "What the hell are you talking about? What plan?" Now it was Akane's turn to be confused. "I'm just telling you what I think of you. That's all. But hey, if you wanna get mad and lose focus then be my guest."

To her credit, Akane did nothing more than twitch her left hand at that response. "Still think I'm a violent tomboy?"

"Not anymore," he replied, shrugging his shoulder, and holding up his hands, palms facing the ceiling. This in turn caused Akane to grin triumphantly. "Now you're just a tomboy who can control her temper but still can't fight," he finished with a smirk.

Akane's anger returned two-fold, and the look on her face promised pain in Ranma's immediate future. "Alright, enough talking," she yelled, lifting the hammer off the ground with just her right hand before gripping the handle with her left hand as well. "Why don't you show me just how long a Konoha shinobi can last against someone like me?"

"You mean against a tomboy who can't fight?"

With one final, strangled yell, Akane charged forward, easily surpassing Shuu Maito's speed while he had his weights on. She was nothing more than a blur as she pulled the hammer back and swung horizontally, moving faster than many expected her to given her weapon of choice. Ranma, however, was not to be outdone in the speed department. Just when the hammer's face was mere centimeters away from striking him, his form blurred for a split second before disappearing completely.

Everyone's eyes, save for Kurenai's, her team's, and Naruto's, widened at the display of speed from the red clad Genin. Even Satsuki had never seen Ranma move so fast as to disappear like that. The fastest he'd gone against her during their spars was the speed that the Kusa kunoichi was now displaying.

Ranma reappeared no more than a second later, appearing several meters to the right of where he originally stood. "Man, you're slow," he said, standing with his fingers interlaced behind his head. While to others it seemed as though he was focused, he was actually very distracted by his thoughts. Whenever he looked at his opponent, he could see an older, more powerful image of a person superimposed over her body like a ghostly image. It wasn't the Akane of his world that he saw as the image before him wore shinobi clothing, wielded a battle hammer, and most importantly, was much older than his Akane by at least six or seven years.

'Is this… a Genjutsu?' he asked himself only to frown and discreetly shake his head. 'No, I can't feel any chakra at all. So what is it?'

"Is that so?" she asked, shaking Ranma out of his thoughts, the image of the older Akane disappearing as well. She grinned just before she disappeared in a blur. A split second later, she reappeared behind Ranma. "Take this!" She swung the hammer with all her might, not giving Ranma any chance to react. Instead of sending Ranma flying, her attack only caused her to lose her balance when her hammer went right through Ranma, dispelling the illusion. "A clone?" she gasped out in surprise with wide eyes, struggling to regain her balance to avoid falling to the ground.

"And people say that an ordinary clone is useless," stated Ranma, watching as Akane attempted to regain her balance. Instead of taking advantage of her temporary loss of balance, he simply stood there, waiting for her to get ready once again. He would have rushed in to knock her out but once again, the ghostly image of an older Akane reappeared, staring at him with hate-filled eyes. Before he knew it, the image was gone as though it had never been there. "Still, I guess you're not as slow as I thought. But it's still nothing compared to me."

"Then maybe I should stop holding back," she replied with an even wider smirk. "Let's see you keep up with this."

This time, the Kusa-nin was even faster, disappearing in the blink of an eye and causing everyone in the room, save for her teammates, to gape in awe of her speed. Akane was still smirking when she reappeared behind and above Ranma, prepared to smash him flat with her hammer. "Die!"

One word. One word was all it took to give Ranma one of the biggest shocks of his life as he turned around to face his opponent. Once again he saw the image of the older Akane right where the younger one was, speaking the very same words as her younger self. This time, it wasn't the image that shocked him, nor was it what the image said. It was how the older woman said it. The voice was so full of rage, anger, and hatred. He had never and felt such hatred directed towards him. How did he know it was directed at him? Simple, he didn't. He knew though, he somehow knew that it was directed at him and no one else.

Anko, standing in front of Ranma, saw the look of surprise and slight horror on his face as he turned around to see Akane and her hammer bearing down on him. She opened her mouth to declare the end of the match but her momentary shock at seeing a Genin most so fast was enough for Akane's hammer to close the distance between it and Ranma. By the time the first word left her mouth, Ranma had been crushed beneath the hammer, and a large crater was formed from the force behind the attack.

Naruto, Satsuki, Kurenai, Kaname, Fujitaka, and Misami gasped at the sight they had just witnessed. Ranma Saotome, one of the strongest people they've ever seen, was crushed, literally, beneath the large, steel battle hammer wielded by the Grass kunoichi. All of them had seen what Ranma was capable of. They witnessed him do things that some Jounin have yet to accomplish. They even watched him battle Gai and Lee, two of Konoha's strongest Jounin, separately and together as a team. And if that was not enough, he was strong enough to fight against Naruto, the Rokudaime Hokage of Konoha, a feat not many can do even when he does not use the power of the Nine-tailed fox sealed within him.

They all looked down to the lower level, glancing at Ranma's unmoving form. His head and chest was crushed, now lying beneath the hammer, and all that they could see were his arms and legs. Nobody, save for someone like Naruto, could have survived having both their head and chest crushed like that.

She stared on in shock for a few moments before Akane's sharp tone cut through the silence in the air. "Examiner, I believe this battle is over."

Anko just nodded dumbly, also unable to comprehend the pigtailed teen's sudden demise. She had only met him once before the Chuunin Exam, and that was when Naruto had called for all present Jounin to proceed to the arena the very same day that Ranma arrived. "Winner," she said in a firm tone, belying how she was feeling inside. "Aka-"

Her announcement was cut short by the sudden appearance of a white sphere of energy flying at high speed across the room, just missing her head by mere inches. Eevn as it flew away from her, Anko could still feel the power behind the attack as though it were right next to her. Akane herself was too stunned to react immediately, even though she was already facing the ball of energy. It was only when her teammates yelled for her to move that she acted. It was too late to dodge so she did the only thing she could to keep herself from taking full damage.

She raised her hammer, and shielded herself with it. She raised it up not a moment too soon. The white orb of energy struck her hammer head-on, exploding the moment it made contact with her weapon. The explosion was so powerful that it sent her flying back to the wall, crashing into it mercilessly. She slid down the wall, and onto her feet, struggling to remain standing despite the pain she felt. She opened her eyes and immediately shut them when she saw the broken shards of metal from her weapon flying at her, crossing her arms in front of her face to protect herself.

She listened as the shards struck the wall one by one, and waited for at least one to hit her, knowing that she would not escaped unscathed. The pain never came. She hesitantly opened one eye just a little, then she opened it completely along with her other eye, and promptly examined herself, patting various body parts but only found that she was relatively uninjured. Relieved that she was unharmed, she looked around her, and found numerous piece of metal scattered around her, the remains of her battle hammer. Finally, she looked towards the crater that was created where she had crushed Ranma and was completely surprised when she saw that only an imprint of his body was left within the crater.

Realizing the implications of what she had just seen, she frantically looked around, searching for any sign of the red clad Genin. She looked in every possible direction, left, right, above, behind, and even below. And just to be sure, she risked closing her eyes just to try and sense Ranma's presence below ground. Failing to find Ranma, she formed a seal and cried out, "Dispel." She looked around her and discovered that nothing had changed. There was still no sign of Ranma, neither the real one nor the one she crushed with her hammer.

"What's wrong?" Akane and many others in the room jumped, and shrieked, screamed, or gasped, in surprise when Ranma suddenly reappeared right in front of her from out of thin air. No sooner had he appeared did he suddenly disappear again. Everyone looked around for any sign of the pigtailed teen but found no trace of him. They were about to pass it off as an illusion when his voice was heard once again. "It's not an illusion," he said, this time appearing behind her, leaning casually against the wall. "I'm the real thing and I'm definitely alive."

There were a few sighs of relief from the catwalk coming from Ranma's former team at that statement. Akane, however, was more shocked than anything else. "H-How?" she asked, pointing a shaky finger at Ranma, her face paling somewhat. "I k-know I d-didn't h-hit an illusion. H-How are you still a-alive?"

Ranma didn't reply but instead pointed behind her. She turned around, and found another Ranma leaning on the wall exactly like the first. When she turned back, she found the first Ranma missing from his spot. Then suddenly, he reappeared right in front of her, causing her to jump and scream in surprise, and to draw a handful of kunai and throwing them at him. Ranma simply blocked the kunai with his forearm guards.

"Aren't clones great?" he asked as though he wasn't in the middle of a fight. "You didn't really think you'd kill me that easily, did you?"

Akane, finally managing to get over the shock, shook her head furiously and glared at Ranma. "You broke my favorite hammer!" she yelled out loud, pointing an accusing finger at Ranma. "I'm going to kill you for that."

"Yeah, yeah, get in line. You're not the first one who wants to kill me."

The way that Ranma had said this only served to fuel the burning anger that Akane already felt for him. Not only was he taking the fight lightly, but he acted as though his victory was already set in stone. 'I'll teach him to underestimate me.'

Unburdened by the weight of her battle hammer Akane dashed forward faster than before, drawing a pair of kunai along the way. In response to her attack, Ranma dashed forward as well, easily matching her speed. To all those watching, both Ranma and Akane were barely visible, only catching a glimpse of Ranma's red clothing and forearm guards, and flashes of steel from Akane's kunai, and hearing the sound of metal against metal.

Moments later both Ranma and Akane reappeared right where they started. Akane was breathing hard, her hair was a mess, and sweat dripped down to the floor from her forehead. Ranma, on the other hand, didn't look the least bit tired. Asides from the thin layer of sweat on his forehead, he seemed fine.

Akane suddenly began forming handseals, her hands nothing more than a blur. "Earth Release: Earth Bo-" The name of the technique was cut short when Ranma interrupted her with a punch to her gut. She felt her feet leave the floor for a brief moment before touching back down. She wrapped both arms around her abdomen, a mistake as she soon realized when Ranma swept her legs out from underneath her. She landed on her front, her arms pinned down by her own body.

"Good night."

"Wha-" with a quick chop to the back of her neck, Akane lost consciousness.

Anko walked over to the unmoving body of the Kusa-nin, and after a quick inspection, stood up and address the spectators. "Akane Tendo is out cold. Winner, Ranma Saotome of Konoha."

"Alright! Way to go Ranma!" yelled Kaname from the catwalk. Beside her, Fujitaka did was doing the same while Kurenai and Misami opted to smile and clap for their student and former teammate respectively. A quick glance at Satsuki revealed no change in facial expression.

"Good work Ranma," said Kurenai upon Ranma's return. "Before I forget…"

Everybody in the room jumped when the entire building shook from the impact of Ranma smashing into the floor. "Don't EVER pull a stunt like that again, do you understand?" they all heard Kurenai yell at her student lying facedown on the floor. "I don't care if you're opponent's slower than a snail, weaker than a worm, or any of that. Do that again and I'll kill you myself. Got it?"

"Loud and clear Kurenai-sensei," came Ranma's muffled voice along with a thumbs-up.

Kurenai just shook her head, mumbling, "Maybe I should have retired when Naruto suggested it. I'm getting too old for this."

Down below, Anko cleared her throat and said, "Kurenai-chan, as much as I enjoy watching you get mad at Ranma, we're still in the middle of the preliminaries." At this, Kurenai had the decency to blush when she realized that everyone in the room had been watching her. "Anyway, let's get on with this so I can eat."

Everyone's attention returned to the electronic board where the names of the remaining Genin were shuffled around until it stopped at two names. Seeing their names, the next two fighters jumped down to the lower level where they stood in front of each other. "Match eight, Misami Hyuuga versus Kimiko Aikawa, begin."

As soon as the last word left the examiner's mouth, Misami charged at her opponent, activating her bloodline along the way. In front of her, the brown haired Kusa-nin quickly created four Earth Clothes before commanding them to charge ahead as well, the real one staying behind.

"Your clones are useless against my Byakugan," yelled Misami then jumped over the first clone, spun around on her hell, and struck the clone from behind, causing it to literally crumble in defeat. With the help of her Byakugan, she avoided a leg sweep from a second clone by leaping into the air. While in mid-air, Misami drew a handful of kunai, and threw it towards the clone, destroying it as well.

Upon her return to the ground, a pair of hands shot up from beneath the floor, and held her rightly by the ankles. All around her, several Earth Clones leapt from beneath the floor, drew their kunai, and aimed to kill as they approached the immobile Misami.

With her Byakugan, Misami counted eleven clones around her, twelve if she included the one holding her down; too many for her to take out with kunai unless she wanted to risk getting hit by one or more of them. And getting hit was not on her list of things to do at the moment. She reached into her supply pouch, pulled out several black pellets, and threw them to the ground, causing them to explode and produce a large amount of smoke.

"The smoke won't hide you from me," said the real Kimiko, smirking and still standing in the same spot.

Up with the rest of Misami's team, Ranma frowned, finished with his assessment of Misami's opponent. "It's no use," he said, catching the attention of Kurenai and her cell. "This is a fight Misami can't win."

"What are you talking about?" asked Kurenai, switching her attention back to the fight but waiting for Ranma's explanation. Down below, the smoke cleared, and revealed that Misami was no longer where she was standing. All the clones began to look around for their target. "You, of all people, should know how strong Misami has become the past few weeks. Don't tell me you doubt her now."

"It's not that I don't believe in her strength," replied Ranma, entering what his former teammates and Satsuki dubbed his sensei-mode.

It was something they all noticed soon after meeting him. From time to time he would enter his sensei-mode, always when it had something to do with fighting and such. During that time it was as though he had a different personality, one geared towards observing and analyzing a person's fighting abilities, and lecturing those around him about the fighter's fighting style if he knew it was safe to comment on it.

So far, the most notable fighting styles he had commented on were the Gentle Fist of the Hyuuga, the Strong Fist of the aptly named Spandex Duo, Kurenai's Genjutsu style of combat, Kakashi's style with his Sharingan, Satsuki's own style, and even Naruto's style. There were many others whose fighting styles and preferences he had commented on, mostly those who had sparred with during the weekends.

There were those who were thankful for his observations but as with everything else, not everyone can take criticism very well. The latter group usually ended up challenging Ranma to a second fight just to prove him wrong, and that their styles were perfect the way they were. Those who challenged him had obviously forgotten that the pigtailed teen had just beaten them no more than several minutes prior to their challenge.

"The look in that girl's eyes tells me that she's confident of her victory."

"So? That doesn't really mean she's going to win. You get the same look in your eyes when you get into a fight with someone strong," said Kurenai. "It's why I worry about you sometimes," she admitted with a sigh, running a hand through her hair. "I'm worried that one day you'd underestimate your opponent, and get killed."

"That's exactly why I know that Misami will lose," he said as though it explained everything. Sensing that they still didn't understand, he sighed, and continued his explanation. "It's not a look that says, 'I'm going to win,' Kurenai-sensei; it's a look that says, 'I know you're strong, but still not strong enough.'"

"What do you mean? Isn't that the same?" asked Kaname.

"No, it isn't," said Satsuki, shaking her head before turning to face the young redhead. "What Kimiko-san is saying through her eyes, is that she knows that Misami is strong, and that she acknowledges that strength. However, she is also saying that the strength she has, although worthy of praise, is still not enough. And I agree that the Hyuuga will lose. The problem with having come from a prestigious clan is that everybody has heard of your family, and what they are capable of," she said as understanding crept into the eyes of the other three. "Ask any decent ninja about the Hyuuga and they can provide you with enough information so that you are at least aware of what they can do. And in the shinobi world, losing the element of surprise before or during any form of confrontation might very well cost you your life."

After hearing those words coming from the mouth of the eight year old, Kurenai glanced back down to where her student has yet to come out of the smokescreen. She knew that what Satsuki said was true. And though she was technically an enemy, she had no reason to lie.

"How long are you going to keep me waiting?" asked Kimiko, watching the smoke for any movements from within. "I know you're not dead so you might as well come out so we can continue."

"You're right," came Misami's voice from within the smoke. "We should continue."

Misami suddenly charged out of the smoke, looking directly at Kimiko with her active Byakugan. Kimiko created several more clones only for Misami to charge past them, focusing solely on her main target. She cocked both arms back, ready to strike the brown haired kunoichi with the Gentle Fist.

Everyone watched as Misami closed the gap between them. Everyone, save for Naruto, the Jounin, the other Kusa-nin, and two other people, were wondering what Kimiko would do now that Misami was so close. They were all surprised when she simply stood there as the open palm approached her heart. Those who knew of the Gentle Fist knew that a strike there would instantly kill anyone.

Many in the room were surprised when Misami's hand went right through Kimiko, right where her heart was. It didn't stop there as Misami went completely through the grinning Kimiko. "Did you really think I wouldn't notice that you were just a clone?" asked Kimiko, not even bothering to turn around. "Although I must admit, your plan was quite clever. Only you gave yourself away the moment your clone passed through the smoke."

The smoke at the other side of the room finally cleared, revealing the real Misami still standing there. "Or maybe that's exactly what I wanted," said Misami before she attacked, from behind.

Kimiko barely had time to dodge the attack from behind but managed to avoid the strike aimed for her heart, instead causing Misami's palm to strike her shoulder, disabling her left arm. She leapt away before Misami could hit her again, creating two Earth clones to keep Misami from following. "Sending an ordinary clone, knowing that I would discover what it was, and burrowing underground instead," she commented, watching as Misami easily dispatched the two clones. "You're smarter than I give you credit for. But I suppose it must have something to do with being the daughter of the Hyuuga Clan Head."

"It has nothing to do with being _his _daughter," countered Misami. "It's because I'm the daughter of the true Clan Head."

"_True _Clan Head?"

"Yes. My mother is the only one who deserves to be Head of the Hyuuga Clan, not some poser from the Branch House." Without another word Misami charged forward and began to attack Kimiko with a heavy barrage of Gentle Fist strikes.

"What is she doing?" Satsuki asked, confused by the actions of the young Hyuuga. "It's obvious that her opponent is just playing with her. Why is she allowing herself to fall for such an obvious ploy? She should just pull back and re-evaluate the fight instead of charging in again and again."

"She knows what it is so I'm not worried about that," replied Kurenai, sounding very worried despite what she just said. "It's the situation with her family I'm worried about."

"Her family?" asked Satsuki, turning to face Kurenai. "But I thought the Hyuuga clan was no longer divided, and that the use of the Caged Bird Seal had been prohibited."

Kurenai nodded and grunted in reply, not taking her eyes off her student down below. "You're right on both accounts. Unfortunately, that itself caused another problem within the clan."

"I take it the Main house members weren't happy when they lost their servants and meat shields."

"Not the best way to put it but again, you are correct. There were some that were glad that their own family members no longer have to suffer but they were few in number. The others were outraged at the fact that the new Clan Head had broken such an old tradition, though outraged would be an understatement. The branch house members, on the other hand, were very grateful that they would be considered as equals once again."

"I can imagine the trouble Neji-san must have gone through to keep the one who were mad in line," Ranma commented offhandedly.

"Actually, it wasn't Neji who made the change," said the red-eyed Jounin. "It was Hinata who abolished the use of the Caged Bird Seal and reunited the two houses."

"Huh?" was Ranma's intelligent reply. "But I thought Neji-san was the Head of the Hyuuga Clan."

"He is. But before that he was a member of the branch house, and thus he would not have been allowed to be the next Clan Head after the death of Hiashi, the previous clan head, unless the council approved his challenge."

"So, Hinata-san took over after he died?"

"Unfortunately for her, it wasn't that easy. Before Hinata's eighteenth birthday, she was put to a test. It was a test that would ultimately decide who would become the true Hyuuga clan heiress. She was pitted against her younger sister, Hanabi. But no matter how much she had grown over the years, Hinata still couldn't bring herself to strike her sister. She lost, and Hanabi was declared the new Hyuuga clan heiress."

"So then, how did Hinata-san become the Clan Head?" Ranma asked, watching as Misami fought valiantly against Kimiko only for all her attacks to fail against the Kusa-nin.

"It was nearly ten years later, when she was twenty eight," she continued, watching the fight with a keen eye. "The Tsuchikage and Raikage finally realized just how dangerous Orochimaru was, both as an ally and an enemy, after they were betrayed by Orochimaru. They agreed to form a temporary alliance with all the other villages in order to bring down Orochimaru."

"Wait, didn't you guys start fighting him back when Naruto-san was twelve?"

"Yes, we did. Orochimaru was much more powerful that any of us had anticipated. By the time we were ready to attack the village of Oto, he had already amassed a much more powerful army, and he himself had grown more powerful over the years. Every time we came close to pushing their forces back to their village, they would abandon the village, and flee to another location. We would end up chasing him again, only to lose him each and every time."

"Anyway, all the village leaders agreed to form an alliance to battle a common enemy, Orochimaru. Everyone did their best to keep the fact that they would be meeting a secret. Nobody but the village leaders knew the time and location of the meeting. Not even the escorts knew where they were going. Hiashi was one of those who escorted Tsunade, the Godaime Hokage."

"The meeting was going well," she continued to say. "Three hours into the meeting and there had not been any disturbances, whether from Orochimaru or from one of the leaders or escorts. They had just finished signing the contract when tragedy struck. Orochimaru, along with hundreds of Oto-nin, attacked the meeting place. The battle was over in less than half an hour with only a handful of survivors."

"Nearly a day later, a team from each village returned to the meeting place, guided by the four survivors, to retrieve the bodies of their own shinobi. After a quick examination of where the battle took place, though it looked more like a slaughter, they had determined the damage done. The alliance had lost the Godaime Hokage, the Godaime Tsuchikage, the Godaime Raikage, the Godaime Mizukage, the Jounin leaders of Grass, Waterfall, and Rain, and of course, a majority of the escorts. Including…"

"…Hiashi Hyuuga," finished Ranma solemnly.

"Correct."

"But what about Gaara-san? How did he survive?"

"Gaara survived only because Tsunade-sama had asked him to leave and ensure the safe delivery of her final emssage to Konoha and to Naruto. Obviously he wouldn't just run and instead stayed to fight. Amidst the confusion, Tsunade knocked out Gaara and placed him in a state of false death along with a powerful Genjutsu to make it look as though he was killed. He awoke several hours later, after the rescue teams from the various villages arrived and tended to the few survivors."

"When word of this reached the Hyuuga council, they immediately called for Hanabi to become the next Clan Head. But obviously, things didn't go as planned."

_FLASHBACK_

"Why have you called for me?" asked a younger, and irate Hanabi Hyuuga. "I've just returned from a mission and I have yet to report to the Hokage tower. I certainly hope this isn't a waste of my time."

Assembled before her was the entire Hyuuga council, sitting at the large table inside the council room. The head seat, reserved for her father, the Clan Head, was strangely empty. 'Is he at a meeting with the village council?' she asked herself, but when she looked around the room, she saw many of the council members glancing at the vacant seat, then towards her, and then back. 'Or has something happened to father?'

Seeing the direction of her gaze, one of the council members, a fifty or so year old man by the name of Jiro, spoke up. "As you've noticed, Hiashi-sama isn't present for this meeting," he said, earning Hanabi's full attention. "You might not know this as you were off on a mission at that time, but Hiashi-sama left with Hokage-sama as well as two other shinobi to meet with the other village leaders to form an alliance against Orochimaru and the Sound."

"Is that the only reason you called for me?" asked Hanabi, looking more irate as she thought about what she would do to the council if that were indeed the only reason she was called.

Ignoring the killing intent leaking from the Hyuuga heiress, the council member continued. "We have just received news that the meeting place was attacked by a large number of Oto-nin, including Orochimaru himself."

"How many were killed?"

"Out of the thirty-two people in attendance, only four remain alive." The old man paused for a moment, and every member of the council bowed his or her head down. "And we regret to inform you that your father is not one of those four."

Normally, when someone is told of the death of a family member, especially if that family member was their remaining parent, anyone would be in tears, or at least, close to it. Hanabi, however, was not. Her father had raised her to be a shinobi, and one of the rules of being a shinobi, is that a shinobi does not show emotion. As much as she wanted to let out even a single tear, Hanabi resisted, knowing that the title of Clan Head would soon pass to her and as Clan Head, she could not show even an ounce of weakness. "I see. And I assume his body was recovered?"

"Yes, however, we were informed that Hiashi-sama's eyes were missing by the time they recovered his body."

Hanabi couldn't stifle a gasp at that. The Hyuuga Clan's prized Byakugan, the precious doujutsu of Konoha, was in the hands of enemy shinobi. It would have been better if it had been in the possession of Kumo instead of the Snake Summoner, Orochimaru. Their traditions had been made to protect the Byakugan from falling into enemy hands and now, this. "Why was my father part of the escort?" she asked sternly, her expression changing from shock to anger. "Why was he sent instead of a Branch house member?"

Many council members winced, and bowed their heads down at the sharpness in her tone. "When the Hokage requested for a Hyuuga to escort her to a meeting, we suggested just that," said Jiro. "Your father, however, would have none of it, and insisted that he escorted the Hokage personally. He said that as the Hokage, Tsunade-sama deserved only the best, thus he accompanied her."

"I see," she replied solemnly, her anger leaving her immediately. Shaking her head clear of stray thoughts, she turned her attention back to the council. "When will the ceremony be?"

"As soon as you are ready," replied Jiro.

Hanabi nodded, satisfied by the answer. "Very well. Have everything in four hours. The sooner we get this out of the way, the better."

"Understood, Hanabi-sama. Before the end of the day, you will be the new Clan Head."

Outside the meeting room, a passing Hyuuga overheard the last statement. Eyes wide in shock, the Hyuuga dropped the scrolls he was carrying, and ran out of the Hyuuga mansion.

Four hours later found all the Hyuuga in the village assembled at the grounds of the Hyuuga compound, standing in front of the Hyuuga council. Standing between the two groups, was none other than Hanabi Hyuuga.

"As most you are aware by now," began Jiro, speaking on behalf of the council once more. "Hiashi Hyuuga, head of the Hyuuga Clan, is dead." There were whispers in the crowd of gathered Hyuuga from those who have just learned of this surprising fact. "Today," he continued, ignoring the whispers of the crowd. "We gather today to appoint Hanabi Hyuuga, the Hyuuga heiress, as our new Clan-"

"I forbid it!"

There was a collective gasp as the large group of Hyuuga parted down the middle, everyone looking towards where the voice emanated from. Walking through the new pathway that opened up was none other than Hinata Hyuuga, first daughter of Hiashi Hyuuga, and the older sister of Hanabi. She was dressed in full shinobi gear, with her Jounin vest over a short-sleeved fishnet shirt. Her forehead protector was tied loosely around her neck instead of on her forehead, revealing the sickly green Caged Bird Seal on her forehead.

Within moments she was in front, standing face to face with her younger sister in front of the crowd. Finding his voice, Jiro's expression went from shock to anger as he yelled out, "Know your place child. You are no longer the heiress, thus you have no right to stop this ceremony."

"On the contrary," Hinata began with a grin, one not unlike a certain blonde's. "It is stated in the clan laws, that any child of the previous Clan Head may challenge the clan heir for the right to become the next Clan Head. Of course, it will be my sister's decision whether or not she will accept the challenge."

The council members would have been overjoyed at that last statement, were it not for Hanabi's reply. "Very well then. I accept."

"Hanabi-sama! You can't-"

"And why not?" she asked, daring the council member to speak up.

The man shut up immediately, not wanting to incur the wrath of the soon-to-be Clan Head. The others did the same, shutting their mouths out of fear of receiving the Caged Bird Seal. Jiro, however, was another matter entirely. "Hanabi-sama," he began calmly and confidently. "There is no need for you to fight. You have already proven ten years ago that you are the more deserving of the two of you to be the Head of the Hyuuga Clan. There is no need for you to prove anything more, neither to us, nor the one you took the title of Clan Heir from, especially not to her."

Hanabi only stared at the elder man while everyone else watched her carefully, waiting for her final answer to her older sister's challenge. "You," she began, her eyes never leaving the old man. "Are correct." All of the council members seemed relieved at this while a large portion of the gathered Hyuuga grew disappointed. "I don't have to prove anything to anyone here." She paused very briefly. "However," she continued before anyone could say a word. "My sister seems to think that she should be the next Clan Head." Then, turning to face her sister, Hanabi asked, "Why is that?"

"You would never understand my reasons, little sister," Hinata replied calmly, keeping her mind focused solely on her task. "Someone like you would never understand why I want to become the Head of the Hyuuga."

Hanabi held out an arm to her side, signaling the council members to stay still. "Is there anything else you wish to say, Hinata?" she asked, staring directly into Hinata's pale eyes, receiving nothing in return. "Very well then."

Hanabi walked forward towards her sister, and stopped when they were only an arm's length apart. Forming a familiar set of handseals, she put her hands on the sides of Hinata's head, placing her thumbs at the sides of her forehead. The council members, realizing what Hanabi was doing, were about to protest. However, it was already too late as they saw a bright green flash coming from between the two siblings then it was gone just as quickly as it had come.

"H-Hanabi-sama," began Jiro. "Wh-Why did you remove the seal?"

Jiro's words, and the council's worries were confirmed when Hanabi stepped aside, allowing the council members to see the now bare forehead of Hinata. "I removed it," began Hanabi. "Because the Clan Laws required me to."

"WHAT?"

"The Clan Laws state that in the event that the Clan Heir is challenged for the right to become the next Clan Head, that should the challenger be in possession of the Caged Bird Seal, that the seal be removed temporarily to ensure that no member of the Main House interferes with the challenge." She turned around to face her sister. "Isn't that right, Hinata?"

Hinata was surprised by her sister's knowledge of this, though she didn't show it, and merely nodded in response. 'She must have known that someone would challenge her for the right to become Clan Head,' she deduced. 'Although I'm sure that she expected Neji to challenge her and not me. But if he did, then he would have had to present the challenge to the council first, and they would have surely declined.' Hinata narrowed her eyes slightly, now knowing for certain that Hanabi had been expecting this fight. That would mean that she would have to be careful, as Hanabi could have prepared for such a fight. "Are you ready to fight?" she asked. "Or would you rather postpone out fight for another time?"

Hanabi merely huffed in response, and dropped into the Gentle Fist stance. "I'm already prepared to fight. The sooner we finish this fight, the sooner I can become Clan Head."

"Very well then sister."

As soon as Hinata entered the Gentle Fist stance, Hanabi activated her Byakugan, and rushed forward just as the other Hyuuga jumped away to watch from a distance, and to give the two fighters more space. In response to her sister's charge, Hinata reached into her kunai pouch, and held three in each hand, holding them between her fingers. Hanabi, seeing the six kunai, prepared to leap out of the way or, if needed, use the Heavenly Spin to deflect the kunai. What Hinata did next, however, nearly cost Hanabi her future as Head of the Hyuuga Clan.

When Hanabi thrust her palm forward, Hinata did the same with her fist, using the trio of kunai as a handheld weapon. Seeing this, Hanabi's eyes widened as she tried to move away. She managed to avoid getting her hand pierced through by three kunai but the damage was done. Her right hand was now rendered useless by three deep cuts running from her palm to halfway up her forearm, making it hard for her to keep it open long enough to attack with the Gentle Fist. 'Even if I could keep it open I may end up hurting myself more,' she thought, quickly tearing off the sleeve of her shirt, and wrapping it around her forearm and wrist. 'It won't last long, but it's better than nothing.'

Not giving her any chance to recover, Hinata dashed towards Hanabi. Hinata threw a punch at Hanabi, three kunai still held between her fingers. When Hanabi dodged the first attack, Hinata slashed with her other fist. The younger sibling managed to dodge but only barely as the tips of the three kunai grazed her left arm. This went on for several more minutes. Hinata would stab or slash with the kunai while Hanabi would be forced to dodge.

"You truly are pathetic," said Hanabi, deciding that a change in strategy was in order. "You fail to master the Gentle Fist so you cast it aside. We are fighting for the right to become the next Head of the Hyuuga Clan. How can you call yourself the Clan Head if you yourself cast away our Clan's taijutsu style? You have yet to activate your Byakugan."

Instead of reacting the way she wanted, Hinata simply pushed on, her attacks growing more aggressive, and her defense even tighter than before. "It's true, that we fight for the position of the next Clan Head. However I am both a Hyuuga, and a shinobi of the Leaf. I will fight not just this battle, but also all my battles, not as one or the other, but as both. And as a shinobi, anything and everything can be a weapon in the right hands. A kunai is just as effective a weapon as the Gentle Fist when used properly."

"It seems you are more of a fool than I thought," replied Hanabi, leaping back to avoid another flurry of slashes from Hinata. "Just as I inherited father's strength, you seem to have inherited his way of thinking."

"Why do you say that?"

"Do you know how father died?"

"He died when he escorted Tsunade-sama to a meeting in Water Country," Hinata replied. "I was with the team who left to retrieve the bodies."

"Then you know that what he did was foolish. It doesn't take a genius to know that when the Hokage is outside the village, then the Hokage will become a prime target for assassination. He knew this, he knew that Orochimaru is out there somewhere, and yet he still went. He should have just sent one of the Branch House members to accompany the Hokage. At least then the Byakugan wouldn't be in the hands of a madman."

"By calling him a fool, you're saying that you are the daughter of a fool," replied Hinata, seemingly undisturbed by what she had just been told. "But if making the same decision as father did, and meeting the same fate is what it means to be a fool… Then I would rather be called a fool than a be called genius or prodigy like you."

"Then die like the fool that you are." Everyone watched as Hanabi changed her stance, stretching her left leg forward, shifting her weight to her right leg, and stretching out both arms, one in front of her, and one to the back, both with the palms facing towards the sky. "Eight Trigrams: Sixty-four palms," she called out, blasting forward at high speed towards Hinata.

The reactions form the assembled Hyuuga varied, mostly based on who they supported, or who they wanted to win. Hinata simply looked determined. Whether or not the coming attack worried her or not didn't show. The council members looked smug, obviously confident that the younger Hyuuga would win. The members of the Branch House, with whom Hinata had been living with since the application of the Caged Bird Seal, were split into two. One group was worried upon seeing that Hinata had yet to act, while the other group was confident that she would win.

The Main Branch, however, was conflicted. There were those who supported Hanabi, not wanting a weakling like Hinata as their new Clan Head. Some supported Hanabi for a completely different reason. They supported her because they knew that should Hinata become the Clan Head, she would undoubtedly bring a great change to the Clan. It was no secret to the Hyuuga and most of Konoha that Hinata, along with Neji, wanted to change the way the Hyuuga Clan works. This group didn't want that, and wanted things to remain the way it was. The third group, the smallest of the three, was made up of those who were close to Hinata, and sympathized with the Branch House.

And the last group was composed of those who didn't know who to support. Some wanted to change the Hyuuga yet were afraid of the repercussions of such an act. Others wanted to support Hinata but didn't want to incur the wrath of Hanabi or the council. There were also a few who didn't really care about who became the next Clan Head or what changes they may bring with them.

A wide grin appeared on Hanabi's face as she closed the gap between her and Hinata. The grin was soon wiped off her face when Hinata grinned as well and announced her own attack. "Guardian of the Eight Trigrams Sixty-four Palms." There was a large collection of gasps from all the members of the Hyuuga Clan, save for a lone grinning Jounin near the back.

Blue chakra began to gather in Hinata's palms in the shape of a circle, visible to all as she stretched out her arms. She began moving her arms back and forth in front of her, her palms facing outwards, and leaving long trails of Chakra in their wake. 'What is this technique?' Hanabi asked herself. 'No, it doesn't matter what technique she uses. She cannot beat me.'

When she got within two meters of Hinata, Hanabi thrust her open palm forward. "Two stri-" Before she could even make contact with her target, Hanabi's hand was stopped at arm's length from Hinata, the Chakra in the attack being released into the open air. 'What? But how?' she asked herself, shocked that her attack had been stopped so easily. She recovered quickly from her shock, knowing that Hinata could easily turn the tide if she let her guard down for too long. She struck a second time with her other hand but received the same result, causing her to growl in both frustration and pain, the latter for using her wounded arm. "Four strikes!" She attacked two more times only to be stopped once again, and for pain to shoot up her injured arm once more. "Eight strikes! Sixteen strikes! Thirty-two strikes! Sixty-four strikes!"

All the spectators stared in awe of Hinata's technique. All of Hanabi's strikes were rendered useless by Hinata's technique. Everyone's Byakugan had been activated since the start of the fight, and could clearly see Hinata's technique. In front of her was a shield of Chakra, visible to all, and clearly visible even without the Byakugan as some could confirm.

Everyone soon began to whisper to each other, asking if they had known that Hinata was capable of using such a technique. No one within the crowd knew, save for one person. That one man was Neji Hyuuga, the very same person who helped her test the effectiveness of her technique against the Sixty-Four Palms, and the more powerful One Hundred Twenty-Eight Palms.

After landing the sixty-fourth strike, Hanabi slumped to the ground, cradling her injured arm with her uninjured one while glaring at Hinata. Blood dripped down from her wounded arm, staining the grass below it red with every drop that fell. "W-Why?" She managed to gasp out despite the intense pain she felt from her arm. "Why couldn't I… break through? What was that technique you used?"

Hinata ended the use of her technique, and glanced down at her sister. "That technique," she began, "is the Protection of the Eight Trigrams Sixty-four Palms."

"That's not what I meant," snapped Hanabi before she grunted in pain. "I've gone through all the scrolls of the clan, and I don't recall reading about a technique like that." While she didn't show it, Hanabi was furious. How was it that Hinata knew of a technique that she didn't? And not just any technique, it was one that protected her from the Eight Trigrams Sixty-four Palms. She wasn't delusional that she would believe that the Sixty-four Palms could overcome everything. Someone faster than the user could evade the attack, or could interrupt it by attacking the user.

"The reason for that is simple," replied the older sister. "It's because I created that technique."

That was it. That statement caused the biggest reaction from the assembled Hyuuga since the beginning of the ceremony. Eyes widened, jaws dropped, shoulders slumped forward, and all brain activity ceased, for all but two people. Not having to fight gave Neji the luxury to feel smug, and show an arrogant grin directed towards the Hyuuga council members. He may not be the one who would change the Hyuuga like he wanted to, nor would he play a very active part in it, but many of his actions and decisions from the day Hinata entered the Branch house up to this day played an important part to what was happening now.

Everyone was shocked to hear that Hinata had managed to create a technique that their clan's most powerful technique couldn't penetrate. And if that wasn't enough of a shock, then what she said next would certainly do the job. "I created it sixteen years ago when I was only twelve years old." That did it. The council couldn't believe their ears. Not only did Hinata, one they deemed weak and unworthy of being a member of the Hyuuga Clan, Main house or Branch house, create a powerful defensive technique, but she had done so at the age of twelve, when she was still but a Genin. Some were beginning to regret passing her off as weak and useless.

"And now," Hinata continued to say, changing her own stance to match her sister's previous one. "You are within range of my Divination." With no more than a meter between them, Hanabi had no time to react to Hinata's sudden counterattack. "Eight Trigrams: Two strikes!" she called out, attacking Hanabi's Chakra pathways, and sealing off two of the Chakra points on her left arm. "Four strikes! Eight strikes! Sixteen strikes! Thirty-two strikes! Sixty-four strikes! One Hundred Twenty-eight strikes!"

Not only did Hinata's attacked finish much faster than Hanabi's, but it was also much more powerful, and sent the younger sibling flying back a great distance before she fell to the ground on her side, the momentum of her flight causing her to roll painfully along the ground before all movement stopped just before she slammed into the compound walls.

Nobody moved from his or her spot, still trying to process just what had happened. In less than two minutes, they had watched as Hinata performed a technique that protected her from the Eight Trigrams: Sixty-four Palms, then they learned that she had created that technique, not only that, but she had created it when she was still a Genin, and then they watched as she literally blew Hanabi away with the Eight Trigrams: One Hundred Twenty-eight Palms, a technique was only used by the more powerful members of the Hyuuga clan.

Snapping back to reality, the members of the Hyuuga council quickly ran over to the unmoving form of Hanabi, checking the extent of her injuries with the Byakugan. Only one member of the council stayed where he was, opting to examine Hinata instead. As much as he loathed having to admit it, it was something that he would have to say. "The winner," began Jiro, his voice breaking the silence that permeated the area. "And once again the heir of the Hyuuga Clan, Hinata Hyuuga."

The reactions varied once more, ranging from nonchalance, to admiration, to anger, and most importantly, happiness. The majority of the Hyuuga clan couldn't be any happier than they were at the moment. They would no longer have to suffer the abuse of the Main house. No more do they have to fear being punished for the slightest mistake. No longer do they have to watch as fellow clansmen, and family members were subjected to the pain and suffering of the Caged Bird Seal while they could do no more than stand there and watch for fear of receiving the seal themselves.

Everyone's thoughts raced as to how having Hinata as Clan Head would affect their lives, how it would change the Clan. Some couldn't care less, while other were concerned about what she would do with regards to the Caged Bird Seal and the Branch house. One thought, however, registered as they looked at the smiling heiress. 'She never used her Byakugan.'

Both Hinata and Neji couldn't help but shed tears of happiness as their goal was finally within reach. Hinata ran over to her cousin, and gave him a crushing hug. Neji reciprocated this action, holding his cousin, whom he had began to see as his very own sister, tightly within his arms, allowing her to shed her tears of happiness just as he was. It had taken ten years of preparation, yet in the end it had all paid off. The only regret Neji had was that Hiashi Hyuuga, father of both Hinata and Hanabi, as well as his uncle, could not be there to see just how much Hinata had grown. Hinata's only regret was that she would not be able to hear her father's voice, telling her how proud he was of her.

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Later that night, a lone figure walked along the empty streets of Konoha. Despite the celebration the majority of the Hyuuga clan was holding in her honor, the pale-eyed woman had a look of sadness etched on her face, a look mirrored by the night sky as the rain fell, reflecting the mood of the new Hyuuga Clan Head. After several more minutes of walking, she finally reached her destination, the Memorial Stone.

"Father," she whispered, reaching out to touch the name of the one she'd come to visit as she knelt down in front of the monument. "Have I done it? Have I… finally lived up to your expectations?" She paused, almost as though expecting a reply of some sort. No response reached her ears, but she continued to speak just the same. "I'm sorry it took so long but I… I think that I've… I've finally done something to make you… proud of me," her voice began to crack as her emotions began to break through, and tears began to fall. "I know that… That I didn't always… live up to… your expectations."

"You were always… so hard on me. You would get mad at the smallest mistake… even if it was for something… so pointless." Hinata allowed a small, but sad, smile to grace her face as memories of her somewhat harsh past resurfaced, her tears now flowing freely down her face, before the smile faded into a frown. "I hated it. I hated those times… times when you scolded me… belittled me… made me think that… that I was worthless. I hated that… that no matter how hard I worked or… or how hard I tried… that you would not be satisfied… that you claimed to be ashamed to be my… my father."

"But now I see. I can see that… you weren't hard on me because you were disappointed in me. You did what you did… because you knew… you knew just how strong I really was. All this time you… you were trying to help me realize it… to help me find the strength inside me. Somehow you knew… you knew that I would be the one… the one who would change the Hyuuga."

"So why?" she asked heatedly, glaring at her father's name with what seemed to be anger and hatred. "Why did you have to leave? Why did you leave just when I've finally done something to make you proud?" She reached forward, grasping the stone as best as she could with both hands as thought trying to strangle it. "Is it because you enjoy watching me suffer? Do you enjoy watching me work myself to death only to lose something important to me in exchange for my victory? Why? Why?" She screamed her lungs out, her anger dissipating, and her sadness returning with each question. She lowered her head as her tears flowed even faster, and her sobs grew louder, just as the rain fell even faster to match her mood.

"It's because I love you," those words, combined with the voice, caused Hinata to look up to her right and gasp. Standing there was a ghostly image of none other than Hiashi Hyuuga, her father, with a soft smile on his face, a major difference compared to the scowl that almost seemed glued to his face. "I knew, from the day you were born, that you were destined for greatness. Whether it was as the Clan Head or as a proud Konoha shinobi, I knew that you would make your mother and I proud. But then, your mother died, and with her your confidence. She was the only one you could confide in, the only one who truly understood you at that time. But at that time, I was blinded by fear. Fear of losing both you and Hanabi, just as how I had lost my wife, how I later lost my brother, how I nearly lost you that same day."

"Because of my fear, I myself grew distant, more strict, more demanding. I thought that comparing you to Hanabi, that belittling you would force you to work harder, and grow stronger. How wrong I was, that I would end up destroying you more and more as each day passed instead of helping you grow stronger the way I wanted. But by the time I realized this it was too late. You had already lost much of your confidence; reduced to the very thing I taunted you as, a weakling. But then, you started to change on your own. The change was slow, but it was certainly there. You began to regain confidence in yourself you grew stronger with each passing day, your light began to shine even brighter than the day you were born. All of this, in spite of my harsh treatment of you."

"Your strength, however, was not enough to overcome your final challenge. It was not Hanabi, nor was it the council. In the end, your greatest enemy was yourself, your lack of desire to hurt those who are dear to you. Though you lost to Hanabi, I still saw a glimmer of hope when I looked into your eyes, eyes filled with a burning determination that would not be put out by a single loss. And so I waited and watched as you continued to grow while your sister had let her victory go to her head so much that I often found her boasting of her victory over you instead of training like you were."

"But as the years passed, I began to fear that you had given up as I saw no sign that you would take advantage of our clan laws to retake the position of clan heir while Hanabi and the council grew more arrogant, thinking that they had won. It wasn't until I saw you training with Neji's team. Imagine my surprise when I saw you use a technique I have never heard of to protect yourself against all three of your opponents. It was then that I knew that the future of the Hyuuga Clan was in safe hands."

"But before I could step down from my position as Clan Head, I had one more thing to prove. I had to prove that just because we are part of a prominent clan, does not mean that we are superior to everyone else. I know that this mission could probably be my last, and if my death comes to me before my return, then so be it. My only regret is that I could not be a better father to you, and that I would not be able to see your hard work bear fruit. Whether or not you become the next Clan Head, know that you are my daughter and that I am proud to call you one. All I ask is that you forgive this old man for his foolish mistakes." And with those words, the image of the late Hiashi Hyuuga faded away into the night.

"…" Amidst the rain falling onto the already wet ground, teardrops fell freely from the eyes of Hinata Hyuuga. Her hands tightly clutched the grass beneath them as she cried, her eyes still focused on the spot where the image of her father stood mere seconds ago. "I…" she sobbed out, unable to properly form the words she wanted to say.

The Hyuuga heiress remained glued to that spot for what, to her, felt like hours before she finally found the strength to stand. She looked towards the memorial stone once more, staring at her father's name. "I… forgive you… father… Thank you," she whispered as she walked away.

Amidst the trees, hidden from Hinata's sight, watched a pair of ruby red eyes, watching over her protectively like a mother watching her daughter. And as Hinata disappeared from her sight, so too did the eyes disappear, having delivered the final message from a loving father.

_END FLASHBACK_

Having relayed the tale of the past, Kurenai looked at the various reactions from her team, plus one. Kaname was crying openly. She couldn't even begin to understand how Hinata felt at that time. She could only imaging what kind of pain she felt at that time. Nearly getting kidnapped at a young age, losing your mother barely a year later, belittled and put down by your own father for years after that, and then losing your father, all this in exchange for the opportunity to become the next Clan Head. Had she lost that fight against her sister then all her suffering and hardship would have been for nothing.

Fujitaka was also in tears, although he was trying his best not to overly do so and keep it controlled. He knew very well the pressure a father could put on his child, just not to the extent that Hinata felt. His own father had high expectations for his only child. Though he always reassured Fujitaka that it was alright, that failure was a part of learning, it only made him want to work harder to not disappoint his father in any way. If he were to lose his father before he could show him just how strong he had become… no, he couldn't even imagine how he would feel.

Ranma was surprised to say the least. He knew just how Hinata must have felt, being belittled by your own father regardless of what you've managed to accomplish. Being called weak and useless despite how many times you prove yourself up to the challenge. He also knew how it felt to lose someone before you could show them just how wrong they were about you, or in his case, before you could tell them how you really felt. It was different, and Akane didn't really die in his case, but in essence it was the same, an undelivered message to a loved one.

Satsuki was, Satsuki. None of what was said seemed to affect her in any way, positive or negative. As such, she was the first to break he silence. "I still don't understand what this has to do with her," she said, gazing down at Misami.

"It has everything to do with Misami," replied Kurenai. "Misami is the daughter of Neji Hyuuga and Hanabi Hyuuga."

"Wait, what? She married her own cousin?"

"It was an arranged marriage by the Hyuuga council," she said. "They were married the day Hanabi turned eighteen, six years before her fight with Hinata. Just as Hinata worked hard to overcome her sister's strength and to change the Hyuuga Clan, Misami is trying to prove that the old methods of the Hyuuga clan are better. Before, Misami would have been next in line to become the next Clan Head. But the way things are now, the new council will be keeping track of all clan members to determine the best candidate for when the current Clan Head dies, or steps down."

"So unlike Hinata-san, Misami will have to prove that she's the better choice instead of any of the other clan members?" asked Ranma, gaining a better understanding of Misami's situation.

Kurenai shook her head in reply. "The council is already keeping an eye on the possible replacements should the current Clan Head step down or die. All Misami has to do is to get noticed by the council and prove that she's the better choice. Unfortunately for her, I've heard that the council seems to have already decided and although they are open-minded, it would take a great feat to get them to change their minds."

"Who is it then?"

"Kotoko."

That alone said volumes about what Misami was up against. As the daughter of Hinata, she inherited the Byakugan and would no doubt be taught the Protection of the Eight Trigrams: Sixty-four Palms. And also as the daughter of Naruto Uzumaki, Rokudaime Hokage of Konoha, she inherited his enlarged Chakra reserves. And though Ranma had fought her to a draw, a quick talk with Hinata revealed that her use of Chakra was limited so that she would not end up hurting, possibly killing, herself by gathering too much of her Chakra at once. With those tools and more at her disposal, she would be quite an obstacle for just about anyone going up against her.

Back to the fight, Misami was growing more and more frustrated. Kimiko had dodged every strike sent her way, and she had done so with a grin on her face, serving to infuriate the younger Hyuuga even further.

"Is this the extent of your strength?" taunted Kimiko, grinning as she dodged another palm strike. "If so, then there is no way you'll be able to beat me."

Leaping back, Kimiko drew a handful of shuriken and threw them in a fan in front of her, her second offensive move since the start of the fight. Misami drew her own kunai and blocked the two shuriken that was about to hit her shoulders before throwing it, aiming for Kimiko's legs. Kimiko sidestepped around the kunai before forming a few handseals. "Earth Clone Technique." The earth still leftover from the previous battles quickly took form around her, turning into four identical copies.

The four clones quickly spread out, surrounding Misami in seconds. All five of them drew handfuls of kunai and shuriken then threw a barrage of weapons at the young Hyuuga. "You won't get me with that," said Misami, watching as all the weapons drew closer. "Eight Trigrams: Heavenly Spin!"

One by one, the weapons flying towards her were deflected by the spinning dome of Chakra, and clattered noisily to the ground. Once all the weapons were on the ground, Misami stopped spinning and looked directly at the real Kimiko. "So that is the Hyuuga Clan's Heavenly Spin. I must say that I'm quite disappointed," said the brown haired kunoichi with a small shake of her head. "I heard it was a perfect defense so I was very excited when you ended up my opponent. But as I said, I'm quite disappointed. I've only seen it once and I've already found a weakness."

The room was suddenly abuzz with that little piece of information. It was not unheard of for someone to find a weakness in a technique after only seeing it one. But anyone who could make that claim against the Hyuuga's Heavenly Spin was definitely someone to keep an eye on.

"Well Ranma, what do you think?" asked Kurenai, looking expectantly at her Genjutsu student. "Is she bluffing?"

Ranma stared at the Kusa-nin for a moment, trying to gauge her emotions by the looks on her face and her eyes. What he found wasn't very reassuring. "She's confident," replied Ranma, frowning at his discovery. "If she's bluffing she's pretty good at it."

"I think so too," agreed the crimson-eyed Jounin. "Misami's adept at discovering a lie so she probably knows that too."

"But given her situation and personality she'd probably use the Heavenly Spin just to try and prove her opponent wrong," said Satsuki, understanding where Kurenai was going with her words. The auburn haired girl shook her head in frustration, wondering what it was with Konoha-nin and their stubborn determination to stand up against impossible odds. "How this village remains standing I'll never know," she muttered to herself.

"It's people like you that keep us standing," replied Kurenai, obviously hearing the young girl's words.

Satsuki couldn't help but wonder what she meant by those words and voiced her thoughts.

"It's because people like you underestimate us, belittle us, and criticize us. Because of this, we want nothing more than to prove you wrong, to fight for what we believe in."

"So?" she replied, skeptical of the older woman's reasoning. "That doesn't mean that we don't fight for our beliefs as well."

"I didn't say that you don't, just that our desire to fight for our beliefs grow stronger because of your words. Not everyone is like that, but because of those who continue to fight despite insurmountable odds that stand in their way, Konoha remains standing. As the Hokages used to say, 'Konoha will never fall so long as the Will of Fire continues to burn.' And it's true."

She sent a look to Naruto, a look of gratitude shining behind her eyes that was obvious to those who looked, namely Satsuki. "Even during the darkest times, he never once gave up. Even when hordes of Oto-nin were banging at the gates, he never backed down. Because of his determination, hundreds of innocent people didn't have to die needlessly. Because of him, many shinobi managed to return home to their families. Because of him, Konoha is still standing."

After listening to all that, Satsuki could only do one thing. "So it all goes back to him," she said in contempt, glaring at the very man Kurenai spoke about before changing into a grin. "It won't matter anyway. Even if I'm a prisoner here, Konoha will fall. Your ideals are not becoming of a shinobi. Even if you do not fall now, your ideals will be your downfall."

"Many have said that in the past but if you ask me, our ideals will be our salvation."

"Heavenly Spin!"

Once again, Misami initiated the Hyuuga Clan's defensive technique, deflecting another barrage of kunai, shuriken, and Earth Spikes from Kimiko and her doppelgangers. Just then, the clones crumbled and the real Kimiko charged forward, forming handseals along the way. While running towards the still spinning Misami, Kimiko finished forming the handseals, briefly slammed her palms to the ground and called out her technique. "Earth Release: Claw of the Underworld."

She immediately started running towards Misami just as the dome of Chakra disappeared revealing Misami, struggling against an enormous stone hand that held her captive. Kimiko leapt up to the still rising hand and held a kunai to Misami's throat. "Concede."

Anko looked to Misami for confirmation as the young Hyuuga struggled for awhile longer before realizing that she was trapped. She simply glared at her opponent and nodded, now wanting to verbally admit that she had been bested in combat. Taking the nod as her answer, Anko called out, "Winner, Kimiko Aikawa of Kusa."

Satisfied with her victory, Kimiko released the technique and rejoined her team, ignoring Misami's hate-filled glare. It was pointless, she knew it, but it made her feel slightly better about her loss. She wondered briefly how her team would take her loss before she thought about how her mother would take her loss. Not only did she lose, but she lost while performing one of the Hyuuga Clan's techniques, the Heavenly Spin no less. The impenetrable defense had been defeated after only being revealed once in front of her opponent.

"It's alright Misami," a voice called out, snapping her out of her thoughts. Looking up, she saw the faces of her teammates. Where she expected disappointment, she saw support. She felt better knowing that they didn't blame her for her loss but that didn't make her feel better about facing her mother. "Don't worry about it," said Ranma once she rejoined them. "You win some, you lose some."

"This isn't just some fight Ranma," she replied, still saddened by her loss. "I can handle losing and I can handle my mother when she hears of this. But losing even with the use of the Heavenly Spin is something she cannot and will not forgive."

"Why does it matter so much anyway?" asked Satsuki. "Your mother is just that, your mother. The moment you became a Genin, you became an adult. Granted, there are still some age restrictions but she should no longer have any say in your life. You lost, so what. She should be glad you're still alive." Satsuki turned away, a strange look on her face that only Ranma could see. "I may not know what it's like to have parents, but I know that a parent is supposed to support their child."

A strange silence permeated the air around them upon hearing that the young girl among them was an orphan. Among them only Kurenai and Ranma weren't caught off guard by that fact mainly because they knew the truth about the young girl. The silence was broken when Ranma saw something out of the corner of his vision. "Hey, you're up."

Whirling around, Fujitaka saw his name being flashed for all to see, signifying that it was his turn to fight. "Well, wish me luck guys. And don't worry Misami. I'm sure you'll make Chuunin for sure the next time," he said before he jumped down to the battle area, which was now littered by the leftover earth, puddles of water, craters, kunai, and shuriken from the previous fights.

"Match nine," Anko announced, eyeing the two fighters on either side of her. One was Fujitaka, whom she was familiar with given her close friendship with his Jounin instructor. The second was a slightly older blonde haired girl from Ame. From the look in her eyes, she knew that Fujitaka would have a hard time winning. "Fujitaka Hizumi versus Akako Sakamoto. Begin."

At the signal, both Genin immediately ran towards each other, engaged each other in a brief round of taijutsu, and then jumped away while performing handseals.

"Lightning Release: Lightning Shot Technique."

"Secret Technique: Heaven to Earth."

Just as the lightning bolt left Fujitaka's palm, a heavy mist appeared all around them, encompassing both fighters and hiding them all from view.

"What kind of technique is that?" Ranma asked, turning to Kurenai.

However, it seemed that Kurenai had no idea as well as her piercing gaze continued to look down to the lower level of the room where the mist had settled, covering the lower half of the room and just short of reaching the catwalks. "I've never heard of a technique like this before. It's either a Bloodline ability or a family technique. She did say it was a Secret Technique after all."

Unnoticed by anyone, a hint of recognition flashed behind Satsuki's eyes upon seeing that technique. 'Can it be… no, it can't be. Unless… That has to be it. There's no other way she would be here in Konoha participating in the Chuunin Exams. Still, why did they come? Or did they change their plans?' Her thoughts were broken by a figure leaping out of the thick mist. It was the proctor.

Down below, Fujitaka was struggling to see. The mist the blonde had called up was too thick to see through. He couldn't even see past his waist, which he could barely see at all. Suddenly, without warning, he was struck from behind by a relatively weak bolt of lightning. Having trained with a family of lightning users, he wasn't all that hurt and managed to throw a handful of kunai in the direction the attack came from. He was rewarded by nothing more than the sound of metal hitting the stone wall.

Over the next few minutes, several more bolts of lightning struck him from three different directions, each one more powerful than the first and the third one had just enough power to burn through his first layer of clothing. "I'm surprised you're still standing," called out the Ame-nin, her voice coming from all around him. "Most Genin would have been knocked out by now. But I suppose it's because of your lightning affinity. Training with lightning Chakra can increase your body's natural defense against it."

"But you won't be standing for long," said Akako. "There's no way to avoid a high-speed attack when you don't know where it's coming from."

Fujitaka resisted the urge to growl. There was no need to let her know where he was if she didn't already know. He managed to move around a bit while she was speaking but there was no way to know if she knew where he was regardless. 'Where's the next attack coming from?' he asked himself, eyes warily looking around for any signs of attack. His question was soon answered b a loud crack followed by a bolt of lightning striking his chest head on, causing him to fly backwards.

Despite the pain he felt, he managed to right himself and landed on his feet, although a bit shaky from the attack. 'I can't take much more of this. It's getting stronger and stronger each time she attacks. Two… maybe three more before it gets too strong for me.'

Now despite what people may think, Fujitaka was a very intelligent boy. Not on par with those from the Nara clan, but certainly smarter than most people outside said clan. He ran the fight through his head, trying to figure out the secret of the strange mist, as well as bolts of lightning.

He knew how getting struck by a bolt of lightning Chakra felt so he was certain that it wasn't a Genjutsu of being struck by real lightning, which would be much more dangerous and certainly much deadlier than what he was hit with. 'I'm missing something here, I'm sure of it. But what?' Another booming crack was heard followed shortly by lightning, which struck him from behind, forcing him down to the ground. 'Wait, I got it.'

His eyes widened, finally realizing part of the secret behind the girl's attack. He was, however, still unsure about the other part and needed to test his theory, which would have very painful consequences if he was wrong. He took a deep breath and began stripping off the clothes covering the upper half of his body and even took off his forehead protector. He tossed it down to the ground several feet from him where it landed with a small crash of metal against metal, the weights in his vest hitting each other. Following that, he took off his shuriken pouch and kunai holster, throwing them down with his clothing. He then shut his eyes, waiting for the next attack. He didn't have to wait long before he heard it again, the resounding boom of thunder. The moment he heard the sound, he tensed, prepared to be struck once more. It never came. He opened his eyes and looked to the side and saw, and smelled, a burnt pile of clothes and metal.

'Alright, now for part two,' he thought, pulling out a sealing scroll. He waited for the next lightning strike before unsealing his reserve weapons. He quickly picked them up and threw the weapons all around him, listening to each one as it struck the walls and the floor. He kept pulling out more and more weapons until he was left with no weapons, all of them having been thrown away, all of them hitting the walls and the floor. He prepared to form handseals for his counterattack, waiting for the right time to begin his counterattack. Thunder resounded all around him but he didn't care. He didn't even flinch when it struck the already smoldering pile barely two meters away.

'Patience,' he kept telling himself. 'It shouldn't be long now.' True to his prediction, two more lightning strikes came, striking the pile of molten metal close to him. Then it happened. He heard the boom of thunder but this time, the lightning strike came from elsewhere and was followed by a yelp and movement from his fingers, his signal. He quickly formed the handseals, focused as much of his remaining Chakra as he could muster up into his attack, an all or nothing attack, and began his only chance for a counterattack. "Lightning Release: Electric River Technique."

Tied to his fingers were thin wires of metal, and on the other side of the wires were his kunai and shuriken. The electricity that surrounded his hands traveled quickly through the wires towards the respective weapon they were tied to. It wasn't long after that that he was rewarded by the high-pitched scream of his opponent being electrocuted. Moments later the mist began to clear, its supply of Chakra having been cut off.

Once the mist had cleared, everybody saw what had become of the battle area. The walls and floor were littered with kunai and shuriken, obviously from when Fujitaka had thrown them all around. What they all noticed was that the weapons were all within three inches of the point where the floor and the wall met, and there wasn't a single weapon that wasn't more than a foot away from another.

Lying unconscious on four of the wires, barely touching two more, was Akako Sakamoto, barely conscious after being electrocuted by Fujitaka's technique. "H-How?" she asked weakly, managing to turn her head enough to look at Fujitaka. "How did you know where to attack?"

"I didn't," he replied, walking up to her fallen, and slightly charred, body. "I realized that the attacks weren't Chakra based, but was instead almost real lightning. But unlike lightning from the sky, these ones came from an artificial cloud, which you made from Chakra. Because of this it wasn't as strong as real lightning, but strong enough to eventually knock someone out. So that made me wonder, why weren't you getting hit if the lightning itself wasn't guided by you? Then I realized it was because of all the metal I had, my weights, my weapons, and my forehead protector. Once I realized that, I threw them away"

"But your kunai and shuriken. You couldn't have tied the wire to all of them and thrown them before the next lightning strike."

"Sealed into a scroll and already prepared. Once I was sure that I wouldn't be hit, I unsealed them, it was easy tying the other end of the wire to my fingers, and threw them."

"I see. So that was why you took off your vest, because of the weights. And also why you carelessly threw around your weapons," said the Ame kunoichi with a defeated sigh, returning to looking straight up to the ceiling.

Fujitaka nodded. "And with the wire tied to them, and the fact that they were close to the ground and in close proximity to each other, it would have only been a matter of time before the lightning struck you instead of my clothing. Even if you don't carry much in the way of shuriken and kunai, you would still have the largest concentration of metal within the cloud as opposed to the scattered weaponry all around us."

"And even though I could dodge the lightning it wouldn't have been long before I tripped or stepped on one of the wires," concluded Akako, sighing once again in defeat, lamenting over the fact that she had lost due to her own technique.

Seeing that both Genin said what they wanted to say, Anko stepped forward and called out, "Winner, Fujitaka Hizumi of Konoha."

Fujitaka lightly tugged on the wires tied to his fingers and reeled in all the kunai and shuriken, save for the ones Akako lay on. Having gathered his weapons, he leapt back up to the catwalk where he was congratulated by Misami, Kaname, Kurenai and Ranma.

Unnoticed, once again, Satsuki was wide-eyed at seeing the results of the battle. 'Unbelievable. I didn't think that a Genin would beat her. Even if she had underestimated him, and even if she was holding back, she still shouldn't have lost. Is this the power of Konoha? Or could it be something else? Something nobody accounted for.'

"Match ten," rang Anko's voice, once again pulling Satsuki out of her thoughts. "Kagato Kuramoto versus Fukyuu Fennikusu, begin."

Looking between the two fighters, both Satsuki and Ranma quickly assessed both fighters. Kagato, the mist shinobi, looked about as average as anyone could get, average height and build, black hair, dark eyes, a normal taijutsu stance, and no indication of anything special. Fukyuu, also a mist shinobi, looked to be a few years younger than Ranma. He had shoulder length blonde hair and forest green eyes. His stance was similar to his opponent's, thought slightly better, but far from perfect. But something told both of them that he was far from average.

Kagato moved first, drawing a kunai and holding it in his hand. "Just because we're form the same village doesn't mean I'll take it easy on you," he said, looking straight into his opponent's eyes.

"And just because you're older than me doesn't mean I'll let you have your way," replied the other Kiri-nin. "Don't look down on me just because I'm younger than you."

No more words were exchanged between the two fighters as they charged at each other, the older of the two attacking first. Fukyuu ducked beneath the swipe of the kunai and jabbed upwards, landing a blow just above Kagato's elbow, forcing him to drop the kunai and lose his balance. Fukyuu didn't give him a chance to regain his balance, executing a roundhouse kick followed by a leg sweep. Both attacks were avoided seemingly very easily by crouching down then jumping up again before the leg sweep could hit.

"You're mine."

Fukyuu grinned, having put Kagato in a difficult situation. He quickly reached out and grabbed the leg of the teen still in mid-air. He pulled the leg towards him, raised his arm, and dropped the elbow on the outstretched leg, aiming for Kagato's knee.

Kagato, not to be outdone, kicked out with his other leg and struck the descending arm just as it hit his knee. The attack still hurt but at least he didn't have a broken knee. He pulled his leg back from the offending hand and leapt back before Fukyuu could attack again. His eyes darted left and right, looking for something he could use to his advantage. He grinned, seeing the large puddle of water still left behind from the first fight, and began forming handseals.

Turning to the direction his opponent was looking to, Fukyuu realized what the black-haired shinobi was attempting and began to form his own set of handseals. "Water Release:" he heard his opponent call out, forcing him to hurry through his seals. "Bullet Rain."

Numerous orbs of water rose from the puddles all around the area as soon as the technique was finished. They remained in place for a split second before shooting forward at great speed, all aimed for the blonde haired boy still forming handseals. Moments before the balls of water struck, he finished his technique. "Fire Release: Firewall." He stomped his foot on the ground while channeling the Chakra through his foot, causing a wall of fire to jump up from the ground right in front of him. The blazing wall stood in place as all the water bullets hit it, turning into steam during contact.

Seeing all the water bullets being turned to steam, Fukyuu released the technique as it continued to drain him of Chakra while it remained standing. He looked at his opponent, grinned at the face he was making, and asked, "Didn't expect a Mist shinobi to know Fire Techniques, did you?"

The older Kiri-nin was indeed shocked to know that Fukyuu knew Fire Techniques, especially one that was considered B-rank. He quickly regained his composure, shaking himself out of his shock. "It doesn't matter. Water always beats fire kid."

"Not when the fire is much stronger than the water," came the relaxed reply.

Kagato's only reply was to begin forming another set of handseals. Soon after, Fukyuu followed by forming more handseals of his own.

"Water Release: Water Dragon Missile."

"Fire Release: Fire Dragon Missile."

Both fighters called out the name of their techniques at the same time. All the water in the area gathered to the area in front of the former just as the latter took a deep breath. The water gathered and formed into a dragon, already rushing towards Fukyuu just as he breathed out, his Chakra taking on the element of fire and taking the form of a dragon. Both dragons rushed towards each other, colliding in between the two fighters. Neither dragon won, both having been destroyed by the other, thus resulting in a steam covered battlezone.

The audience waited and watched for anything to happen. Nothing could be heard or seen coming from below. Even Anko had leapt up to the catwalks to get clear of the steam and to get a better view. True she could barely make out where the two fighters were but it was better than barely being able to see more than ten feet.

After several minutes the steam cleared enough for the people to see the two fighters. Standing victoriously over his unconscious opponent was Fukyuu, sweat pouring down his face due to the heat of the steam. Anko leapt down beside the fallen shinobi and briefly examined him. "Winner, Fukyuu Fennikusu of Kiri."

Fukyuu leapt up to rejoin his team while Kagato's teammates leapt down to retrieve their comrade. Finally, the last two names appeared for the final match. Both fighters leapt down without having to be told and prepared to fight. "Match eleven, Tenrai Enkai versus Shikanenai Nara, begin."

This time, the fight seemed to be between two opposites. Tenrai, a Mist kunoichi with long black hair, had a wide smile on her face that just couldn't seem to come off. Her clothing was composed mainly of white, a white tank top, a white vest, white shorts, white fishnet shorts and shirt, and white sandals. Shikanenai, obviously a Konoha shinobi given his name, wore a lazy look on his face like most members of the Nara Clan. His clothing was composed of a burgundy shirt, grey shorts, and a grey vest.

For several moments, both fighters just stood there, not seeming to care much about the fight at hand. While not as lazy as many members of his clan, Shikanenai still preferred to be relaxing than fighting, especially if the fight would be long. "Might as well," he said in a low tone that even he barely heard. He started forming handseals, carefully gauging his opponent's reaction. "Shadow Imitation Technique."

His shadow suddenly began to move, dashing along the ground towards Tenrai. Seeing this, Tenrai drew several kunai and dashed to the side, keeping an eye on both her opponent and his shadow. The tendril of shadow swerved to its right, following the kunoichi as she attempted to evade capture.

She threw the first wave of kunai at Shikanenai. He quickly cancelled the technique, crouched to avoid the first set, and rolled to the left to avoid the second set of weapons. 'She's fast,' he noted when he realized that Tenrai was just short of two meters from him when he came out of the roll. He barely managed to avoid a kunai slash by leaning to the side but a second slash nicked his right arm, drawing blood.

He drew his own kunai and blocked the following slash. He pushed Tenrai away before he threw the kunai, completely missing her by inches. "Ha, you missed."

"I wasn't aiming for you," was his cryptic reply.

Tenrai turned around to see what he had been aiming at only to see the kunai strike the wall behind her. She waited for a few seconds but nothing out of the ordinary occurred. "Well that was-" she was cut off while turning to face her opponent by a blinding flash coming from the direction of her opponent. She raised her arms up to shield her face wasn't very successful.

When the light disappeared and the bright spots in her vision left, she saw her opponent standing in front of her in the exact same position as her. Seeing the opportunity to attack, she reached for a kunai only to discover that her arms wouldn't move. She tried again but still her arms wouldn't move. She was beginning to panic when her arms finally moved away from her face only she wasn't moving them.

"What's going on?" she asked aloud, trying to move various parts of her body but found that none would repond.

"You've been caught in my Shadow Imitation," replied Shikanenai, raising a hand and tugging on his ear. To verify his claim, Tenrai raised her own hand and began tugging on her ear. "Concede," he said, reaching to his pouch to pull out a kunai.

Tenrai grinned inwardly, realizing that she would also draw a weapon. 'If he attacks me, he'll also make me attack him. And if he moves away, I'll move away as well. Doesn't he realize that?'

She was hoping that he would realize this and release her, giving her another chance to defeat him. However, it was not meant to be. When Shikanenai raised his hand, holding the kunai, she realized that she wasn't holding one. She then noticed that his kunai pouch was on his left leg as opposed to hers, which was on her right. "Concede," he said, slightly more demanding this time.

Seeing no other way out, Tenrai looked to Anko, and said, "I concede."

Accepting her surrender, Anko called out, "Winner, Shikanenai Nara of Konoha," while said boy released the technique. "Alright, all those who won their match come down here."

All those who won either jumped or walked down to the lower level along with their Jounin instructors. Once there, they stood in a line in front of Anko and a Chuunin, the latter who was holding a box. "Alright you little maggots. The third part of the exam will take place in one month. You'll be choosing your opponent from this box so come up her one by one and pick a number from the box."

All the participants reached into the box and drew a number, calling it out when they did so. After the last number was picked out from the box, Anko looked at the list and announced the match-ups.

"Match one: Maki Tsukishima versus Fukyuu Fennikusu

Match two: Kenji Tsukishima versus Shikanenai Nara

Match three: Kaname Kimura versus Fujitaka Hizumi

Match four: Ranma Saotome versus Aiko Chikyuu

Match five: Bunta Yamagata versus Sanzo Shikimori

And Kimiko Aikawa will get a free pass to the next round," finished Anko. "You will all have one month to train for the finals, where the Daimyo of your countries along with your village leaders will be watching and judging your performance to determine who will be promoted to the rank of Chuunin. So train hard, and I'll see you then."

With that, Anko left along with the Hokage and the Jounin instructors led their teams out to discuss the results of the exam. Unnoticed to Ranma, Kurenai and her team, a certain auburn haired girl slipped away.

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"So Kurenai-sensei, what are you going to be teaching us?" asked Kaname as they ate at Kurenai's favorite restaurant.

"Actually I'll only be teaching you, Kaname."

"Huh? But, what about Fujitaka?"

"He can train with his family," replied Kurenai, taking a sip of her tea before continuing her explanation. "It's going to be like this since the two of you are opponents in the second match. If you two know what the other is capable of then it would be an unfair advantage to the one who finds the other's weakness."

"And if someone knows you're weakness then someone else could exploit it," finished Ranma, finishing off his third plate of food.

"Exactly."

"But-"

"Don't worry about it Kaname," cut in Fujitaka. "It works out just the same since my mom wanted to take me out of the village to train whether or not I got into the finals. Besides, you're more of a Genjutsu type like sensei so you'll be able to learn more from her than I could."

"Well, I gotta go pack," said Ranma, getting up from his seat and leaving some money on the table. "I'm going on a training trip for the rest of the month."

"All by yourself?"

Ranma nodded. "Yeah. I've done it before so I can do it again. Just have to make sure I stay in Fire Country, right?"

"More or less," nodded Kurenai. "If you do somehow wander into another country, just be sure not to start any fights. We don't need an incident in the middle of a war."

"How come? It's not like Earth country or Lightning country is right beside us, right?"

"That may be so but we aren't exactly on good terms with Kusa. They may not be against us in this war, but in the end only time will tell whether or not they join Iwa and Kumo in the fight against us," explained the Genjutsu mistress. "Your safest bet would be to travel anywhere from the south-east to the west end of Fire country. Intelligence reports an Iwa outpost several miles east of our borders so that area could be a danger as well."

"But if we're in a war, shouldn't it be alright to attack?"

"Strategically yes, it would be a good thing to attack the outpost before it becomes a problem. But the country is no longer our territory so the people of that country would consider it an invasion."

"But what about-"

"The Iwa outpost? It's hidden by Genjutsu so they don't even know its there. If we were to take it out, it would have to be done quietly and without any hint that we are responsible for the attack. And don't go getting any ideas Ranma," she said, seeing the familiar gleam in his eyes, one that screamed, 'A challenge.'

Ranma looked dejected at the chance to try and go up against Iwa shinobi but there was nothing he could do now. Now that he knew of the outpost, it would be too obvious if the outpost were to be attacked right then and there without anyone knowing. "Anyway, I better get going."

"Are you taking Satsuki with you?"

"Probably not. Why?"

"Given her situation, I think it would be best if you took her with you," said Kurenai, causing her three students to wonder what she meant by that. "Besides, I doubt Naruto would want to have her around here. He's not exactly very fond of her."

Inwardly, Ranma had to agree. Despite everything he's tried, Naruto simply wouldn't warm up to Satsuki. He especially didn't take kindly to Ranma training her and entering her into the academy, claiming that he was only making her more dangerous and that they had just given her the chance to kill off Konoha's future shinobi. Obviously he didn't know about Satsuki's continuous losses to Hisami Ishida, the eternally smiling girl.

"I'll think about it," he finally replied. "If I decide to leave her here I'll probably leave her with someone who won't mind watching over her for the next month."

"Like who?"

"Well, Hinata-san offered to watch her before the First exam began and also whenever we left for a long-term mission but I doubt Naruto-san would like having to live in the same house as Satsuki for a month so I didn't take her up on that offer." Kurenai nodded, understanding the situation. "Lee-san said that I could also leave her with him if I had to leave the village for a long time. Although those weren't his exact words," he muttered just low enough for the four around him to hear. "But this time, I think Satsuki would be the one complaining. So that leaves either Sakura-san or Ino-san."

"And you're sure it'll be alright with them with their duties and all?"

"Well, they offered to watch over her like Hinata-san and Lee-san but I'll still have to ask just to be sure. If they're too busy I'll just take her with me."

"Just out of curiosity," said Kurenai, catching Ranma before he could stand to leave. "I know you left her with Lee during the exams, but what about when we were out on missions?"

"I just left her at the apartment but Sakura-san, Ino-san or Hinata-san sometimes checks up on her even though they don't really have to."

Kurenai could do nothing but grin at Ranma's reply. "You've certainly made a lot of friends Ranma. Normally the three of them are busy with their respective duties that they could only spare a half hour or so for anything else. But with what could be the next Great Shinobi War coming, everyone is busier than ever and yet somehow those three can find the time to do you a favor even when, as you say, they don't have to."

"Even the Kazekage seems to hold a deep respect for you after your meeting with him." This statement caught the attention of Kurenai's students, wondering what Ranma could have done to earn the respect of a man like the Kazekage. "You've heard it time and again, but it won't change the fact that you really are like Naruto at times. Sometimes even a glance is enough to influence a person."

For one of the few times in his life, Ranma was speechless. When it was put like that, he certainly didn't know what to say. He hadn't known that Sakura, Ino and Hinata were very busy. Sure he knew that they had duties to perform, Sakura and Hinata especially given that they work at the hospital and that the latter also helped out Naruto with his duties as a Hokage. But to be busy to the point that they could barely spare half an hour for things outside their duties was something he never expected.

It was only then that he realized what they meant when they compared him to Naruto. It was more than an unyielding determination, more than a desire to do what is right by them, and certainly more than their similar eating habits. He heard tales of how Naruto's words and actions have changed many people. He brought hope to the hopeless, and redeemed the unredeemable. He fought against impossible odds and came out the victor. He lived through a nightmare and remained sane.

They were like oil and water, similar but with their own unique characteristics.

"Anyway," she continued, pulling him away from his musings. "You better get going if you want to leave soon. I assume you'll want to leave today so you can start training tomorrow," she said, more of a statement than a question.

"You know me," replied Ranma. "Damn, these things are itchy." One by one, the bandages wrapped around him came off.

"H-Hey, are you sure you should be taking those off?" asked Kaname.

"Meh, the medic said I could take these off days ago."

"So why didn't you?"

"Well you heard them," he said, throwing away the last of the bandages. "They thought I'd be an easy opponent if they had to fight me. Now that the fights are over, there's no need for this. Anyway, I'll see you guys in a month."

As Team 4 watched their friend walk away, they couldn't help but notice something. "Should we tell him?" questioned Fujitaka.

"Nah, let's leave it alone."

Nothing more was said on the matter until ten minutes later Kaname asked, "How long do you think until he notices he's got a pair of panties sticking out of his pocket?"

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At the other side of the village, two teams from the Chuunin Exam, namely the teams from Kusa and Ame, were just entering the lobby of the hotel they were staying at, very much aware that they were being followed. Both teams proceeded up the building and into their rooms to rest. Rest, however, would have to wait for the team from Kusa as within their room, they found their stalker.

The two Kusa-nin, Bunta Yamagata and Akane Tendo, were quickly on guard, preparing to fight the unknown intruder. The third, Kimiko Aikawa, simply held out her arm and signaled that there was no need to fight. "Of all the people I expected to confront us, you were certainly not on that list."

"What are you doing here?" the intruder asked, a tone of respect and worry seeping into her voice as well as what the trio assumed was fear. "It's not safe for you to be here. If they find you then you may very well end up dead."

"And if you don't explain what you are doing here in the village and very much alive," began Kimiko, disappearing and reappearing behind the intruder, holding a kunai to her throat. "You'll be the one who'll end up dead, Satsuki."

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Meanwhile in Wind Country, five people were walking through the large desert. Two of them were recognizable as Temari and Kankuro, the older sister and older brother of the Kazekage respectively. The other three were covered with a beige cloak with the hoods up to cover their faces. Ahead of them was their destination, the village of Suna. It had taken nearly another month of traveling, including the one week it took to try and convince their companions to return to Suna with them, but they were finally back.

Approaching the gates, they saw a lone shinobi standing in front of the main gate. "Gaara."

The red haired Kazekage nodded to his siblings in return, saying, "Welcome back Kankuro, Temari."

Stepping forward from the group, Kankuro stated formally, "Mission accomplished, Kazekage-sama."

"Good work," he replied before turning his attention to their three guests. One of the hooded men pulled back his hood a little, revealing his face. A grin appeared on Gaara's face as he addressed the man. "It's been a long time, Jiraiya-sama."

_END CHAPTER_

**Finally, this chapter is over. Not much here to say other than this. Thank you to those who submitted their OC design for the use in this story. Here are the OC's that were submitted and their creators.**

Sanzo Shikimori (Mega Shadow)

Nara Shikanenai (drakensis)

Fukyuu Fennikusu (FalseExact)

Tenrai Enkai (FalseExact)

Yama Seishuku (FalseExact)

Aiko Chikyuu (john)

**Once again, thank you for your donations. :D **

**Please click on the 'GO' button at the bottom of the page and tell us what you think of this chapter. Like it? Hate it? Love it? Despise it? Comment? Suggestion? Flames? Criticisms? Any and all is welcome as nothing you say can discourage us, only motivate us to write better, if we can.**

**Until the next chapter then.**


	24. Arc 2 Chapter 14

Terms of Engagement

Terms of Engagement

By Overlord of Order and Overlord of Chaos

**SUMMARY: What if many of the on-goings involving Genma and Nodoka was all a hoax? What if most of what they've said was a lie? What reason could they have to lie to so many people? What does it have to do with Ranma's future?**

**Hey everyone, once again sorry for the slow update. Being in college takes up too much of our time these days. But don't worry, our finals will be on the third week of March, then one week more of school, then finally summer vacation. Once our summer vacation starts we'll be able to write to our heart's content.**

_**SilentAdaon:**_** Actually, the order is Fire beats Wind, Wind beats Lightning, Lightning beats Earth, Earth beats Water, and Water beats Fire. **

_**keichan2:**_** What's wrong with traumatizing Satsuki? If you look at it from a different point of view, it just makes her seem more human… I think. As for the name, we don't really remember how that came to mind just that for some reason it sounded good. We must have been really tired when we thought of that name. And as for the fight scenes, there really is no way around it seeing as we didn't want to fast-forward a fight that involved one of the submitted OCs. That would just be plain rude. That will most likely be the last time something like that will happen. **

_**Wilfite:**_** Sorry about the slow updates but like we said above, college takes too much of our time these days. Rest assured though that we intend to see this story through to the end. Too many good but unfinished fics out there and we don't want this to end up like those.**

_**To everyone:**_** As some of you said, the appearance of Akane was a cheap laugh. Well, that was our intention after all. At first, we wanted to make a powered up OC just for Ranma to fight, when the idea of a shinobi Akane wielding a battle hammer came to mind. The image just wouldn't leave so we just put it in for a few laughs. Also, we used that fight to throw in a little more mystery into the plot. If you don't get it, re-read the fight between Ranma and shinobi-Akane, specifically the part where he starts to see double. To those who didn't like having her appear like that don't worry, this Akane will only make one or two more appearances, and that part of the story is still quite a long way away. Her next appearance will just be an explanation to Ranma's 'hallucination'. And as for the panties… just wait and see.**

**Here's a little insight on this chapter. Well, this isn't much of a chapter since it's mostly just a filler and an explanation to what's been happening in the ninja world. This chapter will focus mainly on the Naruto characters, specifically on the reappearance of Jiraiya and the period between where I broke off from the manga and where this fic started. For those who have been keeping up to date on the manga, you should know that we broke off before the forming of Team Snake. That should explain a few things since some of you have been pestering us with PMs about why something is different from the manga. **

**But honestly, why a PM? Come on, put it into a review so at least it gave us another review. Please? Pretty please? **

**Anyway, here's the next chapter. Enjoy.**

_Arc 2: Ninja Training_

_Chapter 14: Legacies_

Nature, one of the few things in life that is both uncontrollable and unpredictable. How would one describe nature? Some say it is the general realm of various kinds of plants and animals, and in some cases may refer to the processes associated with inanimate objects. Others describe it as the wilderness of the natural environment, that which has not been altered or tampered with by human intervention or has not changed despite human intervention.

To one, Ranma Saotome, nature was one of his few homes. He spent more than half his life so far living with nature. He spent ten years traveling, living off the land and sleeping beneath the stars. His journey came to an end when his father had decided to return to Japan to honor an agreement, the agreement that started all of Ranma's problems. How he often wished that they could have stayed on the road instead, resuming their training journey instead of returning to uphold the Saotome-Tendo agreement.

But in hindsight, staying in Nerima had certainly been better than traveling more than they already had. Otherwise he would never have met even half the people who are now involved with his life. And without those people he would never have grown as strong as he was now.

'Still,' he mused, looking around him. 'It's great to be back in my first training grounds. Hopefully I won't get into any near death situations this time. That, and misunderstandings when people see me holding girl's underwear. I still don't remember putting it in my pocket.'

Setting down his backpack, he stretched his muscles before pulling out his tent. 'This looks like a good place to train. It's far enough from the village. Any village.'

Right after setting up his tent and putting his pack inside, he focused his Chakra and pushed it into his arm and leg guards, causing them to grow heavier the more Chakra he put into it. Once they were heavy enough that his speed would be severely decreased, he stopped and jumped a few times to get a feel for the new weight. 'Alright, now I can start training. I hope Satsuki doesn't mind staying behind.'

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'I didn't think he would actually leave me behind. But I suppose its better. This way, I won't have someone constantly watching over me,' mused Satsuki. She was currently jumping across the rooftops of Konoha, heading towards the South Gate. 'But still, I need to get this pendant off somehow. Otherwise, I'll never be able to go back.'

_FLASHBACK_

"And if you don't explain what you are doing here in the village and very much alive," began Kimiko, disappearing and reappearing behind the intruder, holding a kunai to her throat. "You'll be the one who'll end up dead, Satsuki."

To her credit, Satsuki didn't flinch, having already expected such a course of action from the teen behind her. "I was taken captive during the previous battle. There was someone there that wasn't in any of the files you gave me."

"And this person defeated you?" asked Kimiko, keeping the kunai in place below Satsuki's chin.

"Not directly," she replied calmly. "He managed to pull me underground by surprise. Even more surprising, was the fact that he paralyzed me with a touch."

"Just a touch? A Lightning Technique then?"

"No. I believe he called it a pressure point. Unlike acupuncture points, which require needles inserted into specific points on the body, simply pressing specific points on the body will suffice. What's more, is my Armor of Invulnerability was active during this time."

There were soft gasps from the other occupants of the room, revealing that they had knowledge of Satsuki's secret technique. "So, they have someone with enough strength to potentially hurt you regardless of your Bloodline?" Satsuki nodded, just enough to deliver her answer but not to cut her own throat on the kunai. "This is troubling. We've never heard of someone like this living in Konoha. Unless he in Konoha's ANBU unit then that would be understandable."

"He is not one of Konoha's ANBU."

"How are you certain?"

"The skin complexion of his face matches that of the rest of his body as far as I know," replied Satsuki. The problem with being in the ANBU unit was that you often wear a mask to conceal your identity. But because their face is hidden away, the complexion of their exposed body parts is darker than the complexion of their face.

"I see. A recently promoted Jounin then? We did only spy on the Chuunins worth noting and those above," Kimiko thought aloud, lowering the kunai just a little bit.

"He is neither a Jounin nor a Chuunin," said Satsuki. "He is, in fact, a Genin."

"A… Genin?" Kimiko whispered to herself along with the other occupants, wondering how a Genin could be so powerful as well.

"That is correct."

Kimiko thought for a moment, wondering how someone so powerful slipped through their surveillance. "I assume he is one of the finalists in the Chuunin exams?" The auburn haired girl nodded. "Which one?"

"Ranma Saotome."

Right after she said his name, a powerful wave of killing intent filled the room. "What?" ground out Akane. There was mirth in Satsuki's eyes as she looked at Akane's lightly trembling form. Her fists were clenched, her head low, and given Satsuki's diminutive stature, she could see her teeth clenched together.

"Ranma Saotome," repeated Satsuki, obviously enjoying the other girl's reaction. "It's no surprise that you lost to him honestly. Even before I realized who you all were, I knew that none of the Genin in that room stood a chance against him."

"And why is that?" questioned Kimiko.

"Because," began Satsuki. "His skill in taijutsu is unparalleled. Should he choose to take a fight seriously, then I doubt that even the two taijutsu masters of this village could stop him."

"And how is it that you know this much about him?" asked Kimiko, her suspicions regarding Satsuki returning.

Satsuki paused for a while, hesitant on whether or not she should tell them everything. Remembering who she was talking to was all she needed to make her decision. "It is because of him that I am still alive."

Kimiko narrowed her eyes, growing more suspicious of Satsuki. "Earlier you said that he brought about your defeat. How is it that he is now the one who kept you alive?"

"Contrary to what we all thought, Uzumaki was not very sympathetic upon seeing that I was still a child. He immediately brought forth the power of the demon the moment he encountered me. Saotome," she said, wary not to call him by his first name in present company, "However, was very sympathetic. He's a newcomer to the village and apparently, new to the shinobi lifestyle as well. He had an argument with Uzumaki right there, vehemently stating that I was still a child. Obviously, he won the argument."

"And Uzumaki just went along with this? He allowed some newcomer who doesn't even understand the shinobi lifestyle to decide your fate?"

This time, she shook her head. "He was far from pleased that someone as powerful as myself was being allowed to live. Uzumaki even stated that if I managed to escape and cause any trouble at all, then the blame would fall to Saotome. He accepted the terms without a second thought. I questioned Saotome regarding his decision and I was quite surprised by his reply."

"He stated that he saved me because I remind him of himself. His father trained him in his family's style of taijutsu since the day he could walk, and traveling for ten years before returning home. Just as his childhood was taken away, he claims that my childhood was being taken away as well, and that by helping me regain my childhood he is keeping his promise to himself to help those who have lost their childhood. Three days later he came to the prison, this time with a choice."

"No doubt to join Konoha."

Satsuki shook her head, surprising those in the room once again. "He gave me three choices. He managed to obtain two strange items. One is a shampoo that, when combined with the right pressure points on a person's head, can erase their memory. The other is this pendant," she paused long enough to pull it out from inside her shirt. "Only the one who put it on me can take it off. And while I am wearing it, Saotome, who wears the matching pendant, can control how much Chakra I have at my disposal. The only limit is that he cannot cut it off completely, and thus kill me. At the moment, I only have enough Chakra to perform a handful of D and C rank techniques."

"What was the third choice?"

"Death," she replied like it meant nothing. "I asked him what if I would not choose one of the other two options. He said that my third option was to just wait until Uzumaki finally decides to kill me."

"And you would rather live amongst Konoha shinobi?"

"I would rather die then betray Iwa. But if the chance is there, then I would rather live and have the chance to return to Iwa. Or at the very least, kill Uzumaki."

Sensing no trace of deception, Kimiko finally lowered the kunai and returned it to her pouch. "I see. So the only way you could return to us is if we take off that pendant?"

"Correct. But as I've said, only Saotome can take it off. Though sometimes I regret choosing this path."

"And why is that?" asked Akane, obviously still bitter about her defeat and the loss of her weapon.

"For one thing, they obviously do not see me as a threat any longer. After the first day, the ANBU stopped following me. I once walked out of Konoha's gates and nobody stopped me," she said, obviously struggling to keep her composure in front of the three. "The guards even greeted me and warned me to be careful while outside the village."

"If you could leave, why didn't you?"

"If I left, Uzumaki would no doubt have me hunted down despite the fact that I am not much of a threat. And without my Chakra, one hunter-nin would be more than enough to take me out. I wouldn't get far enough to reach one of Iwa's border camps. Other than that, Saotome decided to send me to the academy of all places."

"The academy?" at this, a mischievous glint appeared in Kimiko's eyes.

"Yes. However, I wouldn't be able to get away with discreetly killing their future shinobi."

"Oh?"

"The instructors are mostly Jounin who take a rotating shift. The first one who taught the class I was in was Sakura Haruno. The next day it was a man by the name of Iruka Umino. There were others, but none worth remembering. Even the Chuunin instructors seem to be as powerful as rookie Jounin. I've no doubt that they are keeping an eye on me at all times. Whether or not this was planned for my stay there is unknown."

"I see. This is quite the predicament. Is there any way you could trick him into removing the pendant? A genjutsu perhaps. You did say he was a newcomer to the shinobi world. I doubt he would be able to detect, let alone dispel, a genjutsu."

"I'm afraid that won't work. Despite the fact that he is a newcomer, his Chakra coils were somehow developed enough that he had the Chakra reserves of an academy shinobi when he arrived. His reserves have grown quickly as well as his knowledge of ninjutsu and genjutsu. While he has an affinity for wind techniques, he seems to be better suited with genjutsu."

Silence permeated the room from that moment as the trio of kusa-nin thought about this unforeseen obstacle. "This… this is too good for Konoha to be true," Kimiko finally said, breaking the uncomfortable silence. "To find a powerful taijutsu fighter who is able to learn ninjutsu and genjutsu despite his age. Satsuki, is there anything you can tell us that could help in defeating him?"

"Fortunately I do," she replied. "However, he may not have this weakness for long. He suffers from a severe case of ailurophobia, a fear of cats. From what I remember, he cannot come into close contact with any feline without his fear taking control."

"He's afraid of cats?" asked Akane in disbelief, voicing the thoughts of the other two as well. "Someone like him, is afraid of cats?"

"That is correct."

Before Akane could continue, obviously to rant, Kimiko cut her off. "I see. We'll have to work on exploiting this fear. But for now, I have a job for you."

"What would you ask of me, Shiori-sama?"

_END FLASHBACK_

And now here she was, pondering over how she could get Ranma to remove the pendant so that she could finally return to Iwa. 'But then again, is that what I really want?' she asked herself, finding herself doubting her desire to return for the first time. 'Here I'm a prisoner yet I'm treated like any other person living here, with the exception of the Hokage who views me as a threat. In Iwa… In Iwa I'm their weapon, a weapon to combat the Hokage and the power of the demon that he holds.'

'Here only one man sees me as a threat whenever he sees me while everyone else no longer sees me as a threat now that I'm cut off form my Chakra. In Iwa everyone, save for Shiori-sama, fears me. Even the forces of Kumo fear me with the exception of the Raikage. In Iwa I could have everything I want or need, not that there's anything I could want asides from my revenge. Here people try to offer me things that I have no need of.'

'…Why am I even asking myself this?' she yelled at herself, shaking her head from side to side to shake away her doubt. 'There's nothing this village has to offer that I could ever want. Shinobi don't need emotions, only the power to do what is needed. Neither do they need friends, all they do is get in the way.'

With her mind made up, she went back to thinking about what she needed to think about, how to remove the pendant. The most obvious way was to earn Ranma's trust to the point that he would remove it of his own accord. The problem with that plan would be Naruto Uzumaki, the Rokudaime Hokage. Even if Ranma could get away with a lot of things, she highly doubted that removing her pendant was something he would get away with. The only way around that would be to earn Naruto's trust as well. But she was certain that he would rather give up ramen, quit being the Hokage and a ninja, and surrender to Iwa and Kumo.

'The day he trusts me is the day the world ends,' she mused, with a ghost of a smile appearing briefly on her face. 'Either way, I have my orders. It's time to get to work.' As she continued to run to her destination, a brief thought flashed through her mind. 'I wonder if Ranma found my little present before someone saw it hanging out of his pocket.'

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"So," began the old man. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

Jiraiya, the Toad Sage and one of the Legendary Sannin, sat inside the Kazekage's office. Beside him sat a fifty-six year old woman by the name of Shizune, Tsunade's former assistant. Sitting across the desk from them was the Godaime Kazekaga, Gaara of the Desert. Beside him were his siblings, Kankuro and Temari. And sitting beside the table was a large urn covered in seals, which gave off a malevolent aura.

Gaara nodded. "I'm sure. If I am to protect the village, then I will need the help of Shukaku."

"Are you sure you want to take that risk?" asked Jiraiya, concern appearing on his face. "So many things could go wrong before, during, and after the sealing."

"I've already taken everything into account. Unlike the previous seal, your seal will certainly be strong enough to hold back Shukaku's influence. Even if the seal ends up the same as before, I went for 15 years without sleep. Surely I can last long enough to end this war."

"Well, I can't argue with that. But I'm sure the seal I'm going to apply will be strong enough to hold back a five-tailed demon at least. Any more than that then I'll have to make a new seal."

"I'd rather you stuck to the seal you already know," replied Gaara, who then grinned. "I know that you're a renowned Seal Master, but neither the Yondaime nor Naruto could have made a powerful seal without their sight."

Jiraiya only let out a bark of laughter at this. "I may be blind, but I'm sure I could do it if I had enough time. But given the situation that's one thing I don't have. Alright, when do you want to do this?"

"Tonight after I make a sweep of the area to make sure that there aren't any enemy shinobi keeping watch on the city."

"Aren't you worried about spies inside the village?"

"Let me worry about things like that Jiraiya-sama. I'll send for you tonight when I'm finished with my area sweep."

"Alright," he said, standing up with Shizune's help. "I'll be in the-"

"Get back here!" Whatever Jiraiya was about to say was cut off when they heard a loud commotion coming from outside.

"What's going on out there?" asked Shizune listening as the yells grew louder and clearer. Once they were close enough, the yells she heard sounded familiar, causing her to groan. "Not again."

"Give us that notebook you pervert!" yelled an angry female voice.

"I'll teach you to peep on a kunoichi of Suna!" yelled another voice.

"Get that notebook!" yelled the angry voice again.

As they ran past the Kazekage's office, the sounds of the commotion died down. "Still the same huh?" asked Temari, seemingly unaffected by what she just heard.

Shizune sighed and nodded. "It's why Jiraiya-sama and I chose to retire to an area far enough from any hot springs. But that brings up the question of where someone could peep here? I doubt there are any hot springs in the middle of the desert. Even if there were, who would be crazy enough to go to one in the middle of a scorching desert?"

"Not a hot spring, but close enough I suppose."

"It's the bathhouse that was made sometime before we left Konoha," said Jiraiya, remembering the last time he had been to Suna, which had been over 20 years ago. "It's almost like a hot spring but one of Naruto's seals cool the water. A lot of travelers visit that bathhouse since they're not used to the heat of the desert."

"I don't believe this," groaned Shizune. "I better go take care of this then. I'll see you all later." She stood and bowed.

Gaara nodded and Shizune left the room, leaving the last of the Sannin in the room with the Sand Siblings. "Sometimes I still find it hard to believe that someone could be an even bigger pervert than you," said Temari, looking at Jiraiya.

Though he was blind, Jiraiya knew that Temari was looking directly at him. "And I'm still surprised that it had nothing to do with me. Either way, I'm glad that there's someone to continue my legacy. I'd thought for sure that there would be nobody to continue writing after I'd lost my eyesight all those years ago."

"Wait! You mean to tell me that you're not the one writing those books anymore?"

"Can you honestly expect me to continue writing when I can't see a single source of inspiration?" he asked. "No, I'm not the one. I stopped writing it 24 years ago, ever since that day Orochimaru slashed out my eyes."

"So you mean…"

"That's right," he replied proudly, turning to the direction of the window where Shizune's voice could be heard yelling at someone. "Chika's been continuing my legacy for nearly seven years now."

"Are you serious?!" Kankuro burst out, pulling out the infamous orange book in question. "You mean to tell me that Chika, yours and Tsunade's daughter, has been writing this since she was sixteen?"

"Surprising isn't it?" declared Jiraiya proudly. "A super pervert since the age of twelve, and an amazing writer at the age of sixteen. And all that with barely any instruction from myself."

Jiraiya burst out laughing at the irony of it all. He had been trying to get Naruto to follow in his footsteps in the way of the pervert, yet he failed. Then nearly 14 years after returning to Konoha with Naruto, his and Tsunade's daughter, Chika, was discovered to be a pervert as well after being caught peeping in the hot springs. But what surprised them the most that time was that Chika had been peeping into the women's side. Enraged that someone was peeping on them, none of the women noticed that Chika was a girl and proceeded to chase her throughout Konoha, stopping only when Shizune intervened asked why they were chasing Tsunade's daughter and threatening to kill her.

Later, Shizune confronted Jiraiya about it. But Jiraiya had denied all accusations of 'corrupting' his and Tsunade's daughter. He had promised Tsunade, even before they had gotten married, and even put it into writing, that he would not attempt to corrupt their daughter or any future children or grandchildren in any way. Nobody knew what Shizune said to make Jiraiya pale so much, although they could guess, but even then he denied it.

Afterwards, Shizune spoke to Chika about it in private. Until this day, nobody knew what the daughter of two members of the Sannin said, but Tsunade's former assistant seemed to accept it. Although she vehemently stated that she would break that habit. She would not allow the daughter of Tsunade to become a pervert. After that, a masked man was often caught peeping into the women's side of the hot springs. Several of the shinobi made the connection, and thus refrained from chasing the girl, but others who didn't figure it out continued to chase the disguised girl like they would any other pervert.

Asides from the girl in question, only Shizune actually knew the reason why Chika became such a pervert. Both were tight-lipped about it, and everyone was sure that Chika wouldn't be telling anyone. Now that she's older perhaps she might, but that was still highly unlikely.

"So anyway, I'll be the in my hotel room preparing for tonight," said Jiraiya, standing up from his seat. When both Kankuro and Temari moved forward to help the blind man, he raised his hand and said, "I'm blind, not helpless. I can make it to my hotel room by myself, thank you."

Both siblings turned to Gaara, slightly unsure of this. When he nodded to them, they dropped the subject and allowed Jiraiya to leave unaided.

Just as Jiraiya left, the trio heard another loud scream from outside. "THAT PERVERT JUST GROPED ME!!"

"I still say Jiraiya-sama had something to do with it," said Temari, a drop of sweat making it down the back of her head. Both Gaara and Kankuro only nodded as all three wondered just how much trouble Chika would cause while staying in the village. 'She's even worse than Jiraiya-sama,' thought Temari. 'At least he never really groped anyone asides from Tsunade-sama. Even then that was only after they got together.'

Just then, a messenger bird flew into the room, landing on Gaara's desk. Taking the letter from the bird, Gaara read the message. "Looks like one of our Genin made it to the finals," he said as Temari and Kankuro perked up, glad that at least one of their genin made it through.

"Who was it?" asked Kankuro.

"Aiko Chikyuu."

"I figured she'd make it. That special technique of hers can really make short work of just about any shinobi out there."

"Is there anything else?" asked Temari.

"Yes. Goro is requesting that we send one of our fastest shinobi to train Aiko as her first opponent is one of the fastest people he has even seen."

"Who is it?"

"Ranma Saotome."

Silence occupied the office as soon as the name left Gaara's lips. The only sound that could be heard was the sounds of a disguised Chika being chased around Suna when she and the pervert hunters would pass right by the building. "Think we should just tell her to quit?" Kankuro finally asked.

"She won't quit and you know it," replied Temari, though inwardly she was having similar thoughts. 'Then again, I doubt Ranma would do anything to seriously hurt the girl. Well, not on purpose anyway.'

"So who are you going to send?" asked the puppet master.

The Kazekage shut his eyes in thought before opening them. "She's already experienced in fighting fast opponents so fighting against a fast opponent won't be enough to help her prepare for this fight," he said, to which his siblings nodded. "Temari, I believe that you're already one week late for your return to Konoha."

Said woman just blinked in response, a blank and slightly confused look on her face. "I did tell them that I'll be helping you prepare for the exams. But, what does this have to do with Chikyuu-san's training?"

"Everything. Because asides from your duties as the ambassadress, you will be helping her with her training for the next month."

"Me?" she asked in surprise, her eyes turning into dinner plates as she raised a finger to point at herself.

"Yes, you," replied the stoic Kazekage, although Kankuro could see a faint grin appearing on the corner of Gaara's lips. He was obviously enjoying this. "Is there something wrong with that?"

"Well, it's not like I'm very busy with my duties as the ambassadress but still, why me?"

"You trained him for two weeks and you witnessed his skill during his fight with Toshiki and Chiharu Yamoto. As such you are the most familiar with his abilities."

"What about your fight with him? Doesn't fighting against someone mean that you know his fighting style better?"

"That's true. But as I am the Kazekage I wouldn't be able to train her for obvious reasons."

"What reasons? It's not like the other kages don't train their genin if they favor them or if they want or have to."

"I didn't mean that," he shook his head. As if on cue, the door opened and three Suna Chuunin walked in, each one carrying a large pile of papers. One by one, they set the piles on one side of Gaara's desk and then left without a word. Turning to Temari, he just said, "See?" And without another word, he took the first piece of paper and began reading through it with a sigh. "It's times like these that I wish I knew Uzumaki's Shadow Clone Technique."

Suddenly, both Kankuro and Temari gained a thoughtful look on their faces. "I wonder if he's figured it out yet," said Temari.

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Back in the village of Konoha, the aforementioned person was just finishing his own pile of paperwork, when a pair of Chuunin entered, placed two more piles on his desk, took the finished piles, and left. Naruto Uzumaki sighed, muttered, "Countless techniques in the world but not a single one can be used to finish paperwork," and went back to work.

Outside his office, one Chuunin turned to the other and asked, "How long has it been now?"

The other Chuunin hummed a bit then said, "A little over 12 years. Man, whoever wins is gonna be rich."

"I know. Where did you put your money?"

"I lost a long time ago and I made three bets. What about you? You still in?"

"For another three months. After that I'll have to put in another bet if I want another chance at winning."

Just then a Jounin who was walking to the Hokage's office overheard their conversation and asked, "So he still hasn't figured it out?" Both Chuunin just shook their heads. "This has got to be the longest running betting pool ever."

"Tell me about it," commented the secretary, who paused what she was doing to take part in the conversation. "It's been running since the time of the Shodai Hokage and nobody's won yet."

"Well what can we do about it?" asked the Jounin. "Just about everyone in the village, save for the Hokage, is in on it. And once you place a bet, you can't do anything to try and make yourself the winner. In the end, it's up to them to figure it out. That or someone outside the bet tells them."

Just then, Hinata walked in and overheard the last part of their conversation. "Talking about the betting pool?" she asked, to which all four nodded. At that, Hinata giggled. "To think that the very same people who could take out hundreds or even thousands of shinboi by themselves can't even figure out how to beat paperwork." Everyone shared a laugh at that, mainly because it was true. "So how much is the winner going to get at the end of all this?"

The secretary opened one of the drawers of her desk and pulled out a scroll labeled 'Total' and unrolled it. Every inch of the scroll was covered in writing and if not for the diminishing size of the scroll, they would have thought that it was never ending. Only a few inches away from the end, the writing stopped. "According to this, there's a grand total of 231,872,900 ryo," replied the secretary, earning a whistle of awe from the chuunin.

"Damn. If I win this bet I can retire early. Even if I have to split that with nineteen other people, I still get at least a solid ten million ryo."

"You said it," said the Jounin. "Anyway, I better turn in my mission report."

"Yeah, we gotta get this paperwork down to the office," replied the Chuunin, along with a nod of agreement from his companion.

The three shinobi walked away, leaving the secretary with Hinata. "So Hinata-sama," began the secretary. "What are the chances of him figuring it out while he's in office?"

"Honestly?" asked the pale-eyed woman. "None. Naruto-kun may be a genius in his own right, but he's incredibly oblivious to the most obvious things."

"I suppose you're right. Well, I guess we'll just have to wait for the next Hokage and hope he or she finally brings an end to this betting pool."

"I don't know about that. Something tells me that the Hokage, regardless of who it might be, will never think to use Shadow Clones."

"What makes you say that?"

"Well, Naruto-kun hasn't figured it out yet, right?" the secretary nodded, wondering where this was going. "Well, he was one of those who bet on Tsunade-sama figuring it out within one month from the day he joined the betting pool. And that was only two months before Tsunade-sama's death. And now that he's Hokage, he seems to have forgotten about it."

Both Hinata and the secretary could only laugh. Long and hard.

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Back in Suna, Kankuro was just replying to his sister's statement. "Knowing that knucklehead he won't figure it out until he's passed on the title of Hokage. I mean, he joined the betting pool two months before he became the Hokage and he forgot about it on the first day on the job."

"We'll just have to wait and see," replied Temari with a shrug. "Well, I better pack. The sooner I leave for Konoha the more time I'll have to train Chikyuu-san. And with an opponent like Ranma we'll need every second of training to give her even the smallest chance of victory."

"I'll help. I need to ask you something anyway."

And with that, Gaara's older siblings left the room, leaving him to the seemingly impossible task of overcoming a Kage's greatest enemy, paperwork.

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In one of Suna's hotels, Jiraiya was lying on the bed, thinking about what he going to do later that night. One part of him felt disgusted at himself for even considering the idea of sealing a demon within a living human. While he knew it was often necessary, as it was the only way for humans to defeat one of the tailed beasts, it wasn't something he would approve of.

Then again, Gaara did ask him. And it wasn't like he was sealing it into an unwilling host. Gaara wanted him to re-seal the One-tailed demon into him. And while he would once again become a weapon of war, it would be as a shield instead of a blade like his father had wanted.

But that wasn't what he was really thinking of. It was the process itself he was worried about. There was a reason why a baby was the ideal vessel for one of the tailed beasts. While some demons were weak enough to be sealed into objects, such as Shukaku was at the moment, others were simply too powerful and thus a more powerful vessel was required.

But finding a powerful vessel wasn't as easy as others think. Simply taking the most powerful shinobi alive and using him as a vessel wouldn't do. The man's developed Chakra coils would resist the demon's Chakra and the conflict would kill the man, releasing the demon mere moments after the sealing.

Only a vessel whose Chakra coils were still in the developing stages could successfully house the demon within them. And how much more certain could you be that their Chakra coils were still in the early stages than if you were to take a baby? And that was Jiraiya's predicament. What guarantee did he have that Gaara wouldn't die because of the sealing? And if he did die, then it would mean the release of the Shukaku. And at the moment, there wasn't anyone who could take on the demon and hold it off long enough for him to prepare another sealing.

Jiraiya was out for obvious reasons. Shizune was a medic. Chika was strong, having been taught by Shizune the secret of Tsunade's strength, but not strong enough to take on a demon. Temari was a Wind user, but so was Shukaku. Kankuro was a Puppet Master and his various puppets could be useful but still not enough. And from the news that Jiraiya received from his old spy network there hasn't been any significantly powerful shinobi among Suna's younger generation. There were those with amazing abilities, such as the one who, according to Jiraiya' sources, could increase gravity for her opponent, but from the report he received, that girl was still a Genin.

At the moment, he was pondering over the theory regarding the sealing. Normally Gaara, whose Chakra coils were already well developed, would die because of the sealing. But would he still survive because the same demon was once inside him for fifteen years?

That was the question that Jiraiya was asking himself when the door opened accompanied by the voice of Shizune. "…you thinking? I asked you to behave and what do you do? You peep on the women in the bathhouse and you even groped three of them."

"So?" came a female voice. "Come on Shizune-baachan, I haven't had this much fun in years. Besides, we're only here for a few days so I should make the most of it. Besides, I didn't grope three of them."

"Is that so?" Shizune asked disbelievingly.

"Yeah. I only groped one of them."

"And the other two?"

"That was more of fondling than groping," replied Chika. And from the tone of her voice, she was very proud of what she'd done.

"WHAT?! THAT'S IT. I'VE HAD JUST ABOUT ENOU-"

"So," came Jiraiya's voice, interrupting their argument. Despite Shizune's yelling, his voice cut through the air clearly. "What's the damage this time?"

"Thankfully, none," replied Shizune in a tired voice, seemingly forgetting her anger. "Just a group of angry women, that's all. No thanks to Chika of course."

Chika beamed upon seeing Jiraiya, proud of her little escapade, and pulled off the white cloth mask that covered her entire head. Her hair, which had been bundled up inside, cascaded down the sides of her face, no longer being held up by the mask. Chika, according to Shizune, given that Jiraiya lost his sight before Chika was born, was very beautiful. She had inherited Tsunade's beauty, looking like a carbon copy of Tsunade during her younger years.

Of course, she was not without her own defining features. One thing that distinguished her from her mother was her height. At the end of her growth, she was at least a foot taller than Tsunade had been and a few inches taller than her own father. Shizune once told Jiraiya that she didn't want to know how tall she would have been had she been born male.

Another thing that made her different from Tsunade was that as opposed to her mother, Chika was an early bloomer. By the time she was 19, she already had a bust that equaled her mother's. Although, unknown to Jiraiya, she had still grown quite a bit. Thankfully her bust didn't look out of place due to her tall stature. Shizune had made Chika promise to never tell Jiraiya about that, a promise that she had never broken. Although Chika suspected that Jiraiya already knew. He had a knack for knowing things, perverted or not, despite being blind.

The other distinguishing feature was that her hair was pale blonde, a mixture of her mother's and her father's hair. She wore it in a single ponytail, falling down to the middle of her back.

Turning to his daughter Jiraiya asked, "Did you have a good time?" much to Shizune's annoyance.

The daughter of two of three legendary shinobi nodded with a wide grin on her face before holding up a notebook, not that Jiraiya could see it. "Yeah. I also got a lot of inspiration for the next book Jiraiya-sensei. This time, it'll definitely be better than yours."

Jiraiya just laughed out loud at this. Ever since Chika had started writing the Icha Icha series in his stead she had been boasting about how she would one day write a masterpiece that would surpass even his greatest work, which had been the last of the Icha Icha series to be released before he lost his sight. However, even the sixteen years between the release of his last book and the release of Chika's first book had not been enough to help the girl.

Chika's method of comparing her work to Jiraiya's had been by counting how much fan mail her work received in comparison to his. The company that published Jiraiya's, and now Chika's, works would send them a letter which mentioned how much fan mail Chika's latest book received within the first month of its release. Given that the head of the company was also the head of Jiraiya's spy network, it was no surprise that he knew how to contact the hidden trio.

Hearing Jiraiya's laugh, Shizune's anger returned. "Don't encourage her Jiraiya-sama! She bad enough as it is."

Jiraiya ignored her and continued to laugh, which annoyed Shizune greatly. After a while, Jiraiya calmed down, looked at Chika, and said, "Are you sure you'll be able to surpass me?"

"Of course," replied Chika proudly, puffing out her chest. "The student must one day surpass the master after all."

"Then you'll never surpass me. After all, I was never actually your master."

Inwardly Shizune cursed a bit. She was hoping that he'd admit to being Chika's master, so to speak. While Chika did say that Jiraiya had nothing to do with her perverted behavior, she still believed that Jiraiya had been teaching her soon after learning that his daughter was a pervert. He was either hiding it very well, or he truly had nothing to do with it. Although given Jiraiya's record, Shizune highly doubted the latter. And the fact that she became a pervert about a year _after_ Tsunade's death made it all the more suspicious in her mind. After all, without Tsunade around to control Jiraiya, he was free to be as perverted as he wanted. Or in this case, he was free to make Chika as perverted as he could.

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Several hours later the Sand Siblings stood inside a dark cave in the middle of the desert, their source of light being several lamps. In front of them were Jiraiya, Shizune, and Chika, the youngest among them seemingly appraising Temari. Between the two groups was the same urn from earlier that day, still covered in seals.

"Are you sure about this?" Jiraiya asked once more, having explained the details of the sealing as well as the possible outcomes, including Gaara's death and the release of Shukaku. "If this fails then there'll be nobody who can stop the demon from going on a rampage. Even with my sight, I would be hard pressed to fight against it due to my age."

"I'm certain," came Gaara's monotonous reply. "As ninja's we gamble with our lives with every mission we take that involves even the slightest hint of danger. Sometimes the odds are against us, other times the odds are in our favor. Then again, even ordinary people are the same. Though they do not fight against enemy shinobi, there are still many things that could happen that could end their lives. Even walking through the village has a sense of danger if you consider all the possibilities. This is just one gamble that we must win."

Jiraiya nodded, understanding what Gaara was saying. Though highly unlikely that it would happen to a shinobi, someone could trip and fall on something sharp. It could pierce through something as easy to heal as their hand or arm, as serious as their stomach, or it could lead to an instant death by having it pierce through their head. 'Nothing in this world is truly safe,' thought Jiraiya. 'The only difference is how likely it is to happen to any one person.'

"Well, let's get started then. Chika," Jiraiya held out two pieces of paper. One had a large, intricate seal, taking up most of the space on the paper. The other was smaller and simpler, compared to the first one. "Draw the first seal on the ground and draw the other seal on Gaara's abdomen. Mix a little of his blood to strengthen the seal."

"Right," she replied, took the pieces of paper, created a shadow clone, pulled out her materials, and began working on the seal. The Sand trio immediately noticed the change in her demeanor. Gone was the perverted gleam in her eyes, the same one that caused Temari to cross her arms in front of her chest when she saw it, and in its place was a more serious look, the look of a seasoned shinobi.

The shadow clone walked up to the Sand trio, holding the second piece of paper along with its own set of materials. "Kazekage-sama," said the clone, holding out a small container. "I'll need you to put a few drops of your blood on this, then lie on the ground and open your shirt."

Gaara just nodded and did as the clone asked. He pulled out a kunai and made a small cut on his finger, allowing several drops of blood to fall into the container Chika was holding out. She nodded after a moment, laid the container on the ground, and healed the cut. Gaara then laid down on the hard ground, lying somewhere off to the side so as not to get in the way of the seal that the real Chika was drawing. Once his abdomen was clear of all clothing, the clone got to work.

The clone prepared the ink and mixed the blood with the ink. She dipped the tip of the brush in the ink-blood mixture and began drawing the seal. The ink was cold against his warm skin and thankfully he wasn't all that ticklish to being with. It only took the clone a few minutes to finish drawing the seal on his bare abdomen. "Alright, just lie there for a while to let the ink dry a bit. I'll come get you when the other seal's done."

Gaara just nodded wordlessly, watching as the clone discarded its materials, grabbed another brush from Chika, and helped out with drawing the larger seal on the cave floor. Off to the side, he could see Jiraiya running through a series of handseal with Shizune speaking every now and then. Beside him, Temari and Kankuro sat down, leaning against the cave wall with a giant fan and a bundled up puppet leaning against the wall next to their respective owners.

Not a single word traveled between the three siblings. What could they say anyway? Anything they could have said about the situation had already been said the moment the idea of resealing the demon within him came to fruition within his mind. Every word of worry, every wish for success, every attempt to convince him not to take such a risk, everything had already been said. All they could do now was wait and hope for the best possible result.

The silence was broken by a sigh of relief from Chika and her clone. Both stood up and wiped the sweat pouring down their faces with their sleeve. "It's done," said Chika, dispelling her clone in the process.

"Good work," said Jiraiya, standing up with help from Shizune. "Now, place the urn as close as possible to the seal without entering its boundaries. And Gaara, I want you to lay down in the center of the seal."

Both Chika and Gaara did as they were asked and once the preparations were complete, Jiraiya stood beside the urn while the other four stood off to the side and Gaara laid in the middle of the seal. "I'll ask just once more," began Jiraiya. "Are you sure about this?"

The tension within the cave was so thick that even an ordinary man could have felt it. Worried thoughts were going through everyone's mind. Gaara's siblings were worried that their younger sibling's developed Chakra coils would reject the demon's, resulting in his death and the demon's release. Shizune was worried for more or less the same reasons.

Chika, however, was the most worried of the four. Despite knowing that she had drawn the seal exactly as it had been shown to her, she was worried that she had made a mistake. And when it came to seals, even a single drop of ink could make a big difference. A single stroke that was too long or too short could change the effect of the seal. A missing stroke could cause the seal to fail or worse, malfunction.

In the end, the success of the sealing would depend on three factors. One was obviously the seal, which Chika was responsible for. The second was the bridge between the old and new container, the urn and Gaara respectively. That bridge would be Jiraiya. And the third was Gaara's Chakra coils. Among the three, only the last was beyond their control. Whether or not the Kazekage's Chakra coils would be able to integrate properly with the demon's Chakra would all depend on luck. True, Jiraiya had told them his theory about how Gaara may be able to accept the demon into him due to having it sealed within him before, but it was just that, a theory. There was no way to prove or disprove it until they've actually completed the sealing.

"I am."

"Very well." Jiraiya nodded and began forming the handseals for the sealing.

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Back in Konoha, a woman was taking a walk through Konoha's forest. Now normally a woman, a shinobi at that, walking through the forest wasn't anything to take note of. This was one of those times that something as ordinary as a shinobi walking through the forest was worth taking note of. You see, despite being alone the woman seemed to be talking with someone.

"How long has it been now?" The woman asked. Then as though she received a reply, she said, "It's a little hard to believe how long it's been. I feel so… old."

Her face scrunched up in annoyance for a moment. "Yeah? Well if I'm an old hag, what are you?"

"How the hell can you be in your prime? You're much older than I am… Yeah, like I believe that," she snorted.

"Sakura?"

The woman spun around, slightly surprised that she hadn't sensed the other woman's presence. "Hinata? What are you doing here?"

"I should be asking you that," replied the pale-eyed woman, looking around for something. "And who were you talking to?"

"Just myself mostly. I hope you didn't hear too much. A girl's got to have her secrets after all."

"Don't worry Sakura. I won't tell anyone you're crazy," replied Hinata, giggling a little along with Sakura. "So what are you doing here?"

"Just going for a walk mostly," replied the pink-haired medic-nin. "That and talking to myself. I suppose you're walking for the same reason then."

It was more of a statement than a question, one that Hinata knew to be true. Today was the very same day that Orochimaru and his army killed someone close to the two women. Despite the passage of twelve years, the pain still lingered in their hearts. The loss of a father and a mentor for Hinata and Sakura respectively was a painful memory even to this day.

Despite being I similar situations, neither Hinata nor Sakura ever spoke with the other about that day. They didn't need words to speak with the other. Just knowing that someone understood their pain and that they were there to talk to if needed was enough for them.

Hinata nodded, looking down to the ground sadly. "Uh… Sakura?" she called out hesitantly as though wondering whether she should say what she wanted to or not.

Sakura was a little concerned for her friend upon hearing the tone of her voice. After getting together with Naruto sometime after he returned from his training trip, she grew more confident in herself. Her stutter had disappeared after a few weeks, and she was no longer soft spoken, gaining a confident tone in her voice. Even upon hearing that her father had died and even after losing to Hanabi all those years ago, there was always confidence and conviction in her tone. Like Naruto, she would always keep her word if she could. Sometimes she would apologize for not being able to do something, but more often than not she failed because of an outside factor, not because she didn't try.

Hearing the hesitant tone coming from Hinata made Sakura wonder what she wanted to speak about. "What is it?"

Hinata fidgeted a bit and looked down to the ground, looking more and more like her old self when she did. "Can I ask you something? It's a little personal though."

"Sure, what is it?"

"Have you… ever thought of settling down?"

"… Eh?"

Of all the questions that Sakura thought Hinata would ask, that was definitely not one of them. "D-Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying you should quit being a shinobi but… out of all of us you're the only one who isn't married yet." Hinata paused for a moment, before saying, "Are you still hung up on Sasuke?"

"Sasuke has nothing to do with this," Sakura replied softly but sternly, then sighed. "I guess I just haven't found someone like you guys have. It wasn't for lack of trying before but eventually I got too busy with my duties as a kunoichi and a medic-nin to try."

"It's never really too late you know."

"I know. But… now really isn't the time for something like that."

"You're wrong," Hinata said suddenly, and a little forcefully, startling Sakura a bit. "If anything now is the best time for it. You never know what's going to happen especially when a war has started."

"I know," Sakura replied dejectedly, suddenly having been reminded of Jiraiya and Tsunade's relationship. "Well, there is someone I wouldn't mind getting together with. But I doubt he'd want to go out with me."

"There's someone you like?" Hinata asked, suddenly interested. This was the first she's heard of Sakura liking someone other than Sasuke so it was definitely interesting. "Come on, give me the details."

"Well, I suppose you could say that he's one of the most perfect people I've ever met, or as close to perfect as you can get. He's strong, kind, caring, and he's not afraid to speak his mind, most of the time anyway."

"Is he handsome?"

"Very," Sakura replied with certainty. "I'm sure Ino, maybe even you, would be jealous if I manage to snag him."

Now that definitely got Hinata's attention. Ino being jealous of Sakura was definitely possible, but her? 'Enough to make me jealous?' A large part of Hinata highly doubted that but a smaller part of her could see Sakura's confidence in her statement and was convinced that there really was a chance that she would indeed become jealous of Sakura's choice.

"Have I ever met him?" asked Hinata, hoping that Sakura would say yes since she didn't remember meeting anyone that would cause her to become jealous of Sakura should she manage to get him in a relationship with her.

"Yes."

'Either she knows something I don't or I just forgot about him,' thought Hinata. "But what makes you think he might not want to go out with you? If anything it should be the other way around."

"Maybe," Sakura replied. "But so far he hasn't shown any indication that he was the least bit interested in me."

"Does he have a girlfriend?"

"Not that I'm aware of."

"Then you should try asking him out," replied Hinata, growing excited with every passing moment. Had it been someone like Ino in her place, she probably would have forced Sakura to ask out the man in question. "We're at war now Sakura, so we never know what will happen to us. We could die tomorrow for all we know. Even if we weren't at war, we are shinobi. Either way, we should live our lives to the fullest. Otherwise we'll regret not doing something sooner when we finally die."

Sakura was quiet for a moment, thinking over Hinata's words for a moment. She knew what she was saying, Hinata knew that Sakura knew, she just said it to remind Sakura. After a while, a smile graced Sakura's face. "You know, you're right," she said, her excitemet growing like Hinata's. "Even if he doesn't like me the way I like him, at least he knows how I felt instead of dying without having told him."

"That's right."

"There's just one more problem though," she said, all her excitement suddenly just disappearing.

"What's that?" asked Hinata, her built up excitement suddenly disappearing as well and turning into confusion. "I'll help if I can. And I'm sure Ino would help you too if you told her."

"Thanks. Now then, how do you think I should ask Ranma out?"

"Oh that's easy," said Hinata, a relieved smile appearing on her face seeing as Sakura's problem wasn't as serious as she thought. She held up one finger as though in a lecture and said, "You should…" Hinata stopped abruptly, her finger still up in the air and her smile still on her face. "Did you just say what I think you said?" she asked, smile and finger in the same position still.

"I asked you how I should ask Ranma out. Why?"

"That's what I thought you said." Now, Hinata, much like Naruto, never went back on her word. 'I'll make an exception just this once,' she told herself as she did something she swore to never do again. She fainted.

Seeing Hinata suddenly fall on her back, Sakura couldn't help but sweatdrop. "Wow. That's something she hasn't done for years. And this time it doesn't have anything to do with Naruto… Hey, it's not like I knew she was going to faint."

"Hmm…"

Sakura immediately knelt down beside Hinata, checking her for any injuries that may have resulted from her fall. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," replied Hinata, still slightly disoriented from her quick trip into dreamland. Hinata stood up with Sakura's help and shook her head clear. Upon landing her eyes on Sakura, she quickly pointed a finger at Sakura accusingly. "You mean to tell me that you're trying to ask Ranma out?" she shrieked not unlike a younger Sakura.

"That's what I said didn't I?"

"What's wrong with you? You're more than twice his age; you're old enough to be his mother! Not just that, but what would he say if he found out? You know he has enough problems at home, being engaged to several girls all at once, you suddenly telling him you've fallen for him just makes things harder for him. Then there's- what's so funny?"

Sakura couldn't take it any longer and her giggles turned into full blown out laughter, causing Hinata's face to turn red, this time not from embarrassment or shyness. "Sorry I… couldn't… help myself," she gasped out in between her laughter and gasps for air.

Hinata's eye twitched upon hearing this. "What?" she deadpanned, her eyes staring at Sakura with a stony gaze.

Sakura didn't answer immediately, still trying to contain her laughter. Hinata waited, and waited, and waited some more, until finally, Sakura managed to stop laughing. She turned to Hinata to explain, only to start giggling again. Hinata though, ignored this and simply waited. If there was one thing she gained by being married to Naruto it was patience, lots, and lots of patience.

Sakura, once again, managed to calm down and this time she didn't start laughing or giggling when she looked at Hinata. Although Hinata could see that Sakura really wanted to laugh once more. "So why'd you go and do something like that?"

"I guess because Ranma would really be a great catch," replied Sakura, stifling a giggle that threatened to escape. Then she sighed, sat on the ground, and leaned on the tree behind her. "There really isn't anyone I'm interested in right now and while everything I said about Ranma is true, he really isn't someone I see as a potential husband even if I were his age. No offense to your husband but sometimes he acts too much like Naruto. Even if he didn't, I still can't see Ranma and myself together in that way."

"If anything, what would your relationship to him be?" asked Hinata, genuinely curious now, taking a seat on the ground and leaning against the same tree Sakura was leaning on. It had been quite a while now since she and Sakura had spoken like this so it was understandable that she wanted to hear more about her friend's thoughts. "Asides from being friends of course."

"If we didn't count being simply friends I suppose it would be like the relationship between a mentor and pupil. I've actually been considering teaching him the more advanced healing techniques," admitted the pink-haired medic. "He's reached the necessary level of Chakra control to learn the next level of techniques and given time I'm completely certain that he'll reach the level needed for even the hardest techniques."

"Why don't you then? You're the only one who inherited all of Tsunade-sama's techniques. Not even Shizune learned everything from Tsunade-sama. While we're on the topic, why don't you teach some of the more experienced medic-nins and doctors? If you die, then all those secrets will be lost forever."

"That's one of the reasons why I haven't taught anyone yet."

"Huh?"

"Many of the things Tsunade-sama taught me were her own techniques. Whenever I thought of teaching them to someone so that it wouldn't be lost, I suddenly thought of how wrong it felt if I were to do just that."

"So you feel that it would be wrong to teach others because those techniques aren't really yours to share?"

Sakura nodded, and looked up at the sky. "I've often asked myself whether or not Tsunade-sama would want me to pass on this knowledge. If I did, it could possibly save many lives in the future after my death but the thought of it makes me feel as though I'm betraying Tsunade-sama. She never taught anyone those techniques asides from myself. Shizune didn't even know that Tsunade-sama had created so many techniques asides from those already well known."

"But wouldn't the same apply to the Rasengan?" questioned Hinata. "After all, it wasn't Jiraiya-sama's technique to share, but he taught it to Naruto because it was what his father would have wanted. He would have wanted Naruto-kun to learn it just the same."

"Yes, but how would I know just who to teach it to?" Sakura asked in return. "I don't know whether or not Tsunade-sama would have approved of anyone in the village right now, and Chika-chan left the village with Jiraiya-sama and Shizune a long time ago. Not even Naruto knows where they're living right now."

"And then Ranma comes along?"

"And then Ranma comes along," she affirmed with a nod. "But then, he's more of a fighter than a healer and it's not like he could use it to perform advanced surgery on himself after being on the receiving end of a powerful attack."

"So in the end you're back where you started?" Sakura only nodded and Hinata sighed soon after. "I guess we're the same then."

Now that caught Sakura's attention but also served to confuse her just the same. "What do you mean?"

"My one original technique, and I can't find anyone to pass it on to."

"Wait, what?" Now it was Sakura's turn to be confused. "You're telling me that you can't find anyone to pass on your Protection of the Eight Trigrams to?" Hinata nodded. "Can't you teach Kotoko? I mean, she seems more than ready to learn something like that."

"I can't," Hinata replied out loud but inwardly she was cursing the fact that Kotoko just had to be one of the people who went back to the past with them. Because of it, her reserves were growing twice as fast and she just didn't train as hard as Naruto to keep her control on a high enough level to control her Chakra. 'Even now she's beginning to struggle just to be able to use the Heavenly Spin.'

"Why's that?"

"It seems she inherited Naruto's Chakra reserves," she replied. It wasn't exactly a lie, but nobody knew to what extent Kotoko had inherited her father's reserves. "In a way, his reserves became something like a bloodline. She has to train hard just to be able to keep her level of Chakra control high enough that she won't find herself unable to use the Gentle Fist."

"Her reserves are growing that quickly?" Sakura was shocked by that piece of information. "What about Keiji?"

"Keiji's doing much better. His reserves are growing at the same rate but then again he takes after Naruto more. Since he doesn't have the Byakugan, he doesn't really have to train as much to maintain a high level of control. Since the Rasengan requires the most amount of control from him, so long as he can create a Rasengan properly it means that his control isn't slipping."

"Unlike Kotoko who has to keep it high enough that she can use the Gentle Fist," she finished for her friend.

"Right."

"Oh well, looks like we'll just have to wait a bit longer for someone to come around. Who knows? The person we end up teaching might just be the same person."

"I certainly hope you're not talking about Ranma again."

"Of course not, I just said that he wasn't the right person to pass it on to."

Sakura and Hinata sighed in chorus, both of them wondering whether they'd ever find the right person who would inherit their teachings. However, after a moment, Sakura's thoughts took a complete one-eighty as she remembered something, rather someone, she had forgotten about. Someone who could definitely use the techniques she had to offer. And if she used the right words, then that person would be able to learn Hinata's Protection of the Eight Trigrams as well. And with those techniques, that person would be able to overcome an obstacle in the future.

"I'm sorry Hinata," Sakura said suddenly, pushing off the tree and standing up quickly. "I have to go. I just remember I still have a few errands to run before my shift at the hospital."

"Do you want me to come with you?" Hinata asked, sounding akin to hopeful as she stood and brushed off the dirt from the seat of her clothes. "I'm not doing anything at the moment. That, and I do miss just being able to talk like this."

Sakura smiled brightly and replied, "Sure. Come on. I need to buy some flowers, visit the memorial stone, make sure Satsuki's staying out of trouble, do a bit of shopping, go home to freshen up a bit, and then go to the hospital."

"Wait, Satsuki?"

"Hm? Oh, that's right. Ranma decided not to take her while he trained so he asked me to make sure she doesn't cause any trouble. Sorry for the trouble but could you…"

"Of course," Hinata nodded giving Sakura a small smile. "If you want, I could keep an eye on her for you when you're busy. After all, what's the point in having the Byakugan if I can't use it to help my friends."

Sakura thanked Hinata as the two of them proceeded to walk towards the village. Once the two women were far enough, another Sakura stepped out from behind the trees, looking towards the direction where the two women were. With one last glance around the area, Sakura turned to the left, and ran towards her true destination.

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Inside a hotel room, another woman was lounging around, sitting at the table and nursing a small cup of what would appear to be sake. She was a plain looking woman, with long brown hair and brown eyes. There were no distinguishing features on her, but if someone looked closely enough, they would have seen something in her eyes, something that was commonly seen in the eyes of shinobi and the like.

She occasionally looked towards the door and the window as though waiting for something to happen. She didn't have to wait too much longer as someone knocked on the window. "Come in," she called out in a flat tone, watching as Sakura climbed in through the now open window. "You're late Sakura-san."

"Sorry," apologized Sakura, shutting the window. "I had some unexpected company earlier."

"I see. Well, are things proceeding as planned?" she asked in the same flat tone as earlier.

"As well as they could given who we're dealing with. So far he hasn't shown any signs of knowing, which is good, but it seems we'll have to resort to Plan B if things don't go according to schedule."

"I see. And I assume that someone will be aiding you in this matter?"

Sakura nodded. "It would be too suspicious if I suddenly disappeared only to reappear just as suddenly as I disappeared. Because of that, I'll need someone to help me."

"Do you want me to get Yuko or Ashura? I'm sure the two of them would be more than willing to help. They'd also be able to blend in better."

"There's no need for that. We'll be able to handle this by ourselves. Besides," Sakura paused, suddenly looking downcast and worried. "They have other, more important things to worry about at the moment."

"Yes, I suppose you're right about that." If it wasn't for the fact that Sakura had known the woman for quite a long time, then she would have asked why she wasn't more worried. While she always spoke in a monotonous voice, Sakura, as well as Yuko and Ashura, could easily tell what she was really feeling. "So what will you do now?"

"I wait, that's all that I can do at the moment. But once we begin the next part of our plan, I'll be busier than ever. And seeing as you, Yuko and Ashura still have other things to worry about, I'll have to do most of it by myself."

"I'm sure we'll find the time to help out."

"Thanks. Well, I better go. I'll see you again soon." And with that, the Sakura clone dispelled itself.

Staring at the area where the clone stood, the woman grinned slightly. "Things just keep getting more and more interesting." Looking out the window, the woman was treated to the sight of the Hokage Tower. "How will you deal with this I wonder? Will you kill those who have deceived you? Or will you aim to turn things back to the way they were? Whatever you decide, Naruto Uzumaki, it will end in failure."

_END CHAPTER_

**That's the end for this one. As stated at the start, this is more of a filler than an actual chapter. No fights or anything exciting but I doubt you'd like to read about more fights after reading a chapter full of it. The next chapter will mark the beginning of the third exam**

**Anyway, as usual p****lease click on the 'GO' button at the bottom of the page and tell us what you think of this chapter. Like it? Hate it? Love it? Despise it? Comment? Suggestion? Flames? Criticisms? Any and all is welcome as nothing you say can discourage us, only motivate us to write better, if we can.**

**Until the next chapter then.**


	25. Arc 2 Chapter 15

Terms of Engagement

Terms of Engagement

By Overlord of Order and Overlord of Chaos

**SUMMARY: What if many of the on-goings involving Genma and Nodoka was all a hoax? What if most of what they've said was a lie? What reason could they have to lie to so many people? What does it have to do with Ranma's future?**

_**keichan2:**_** Uh… Tsunade never knew because she died before Chika became a pervert. **

**Sorry for taking so long on this update but we've been spending the past few weeks visiting our relatives in Canada so we couldn't work on the chapter at all. We do have good news though. Story updates should be coming in faster now that we're on summer break here. Hopefully we can finish this arc of the story before summer ends. Just so you all know, this story will have four arcs. Although the fourth arc will be like the first arc, just a short arc instead of a long one like this arc. **

_Arc 2: Ninja Training_

_Chapter 15: Battle of Destiny_

It was a clear day in Konoha. The sun was hanging high up in the sky, the rays of light shining down unobstructed by anything, save for a few lingering clouds. Today the village population seemed to be converging on one location of the village, the arena. Why was a large group of people, composed of mostly civilians at that, be gathering in a place where fights are held you might ask? Two words, Chuunin Exams.

Every six months, an exam is held for all prospective Genin. Should they pass, then they are promoted to the rank of Chuunin. Each time the exam is held, it is in a different village and the exams given to the Genin differ from each village. Of course, there is one exam that is always the same, the third and final exam, the Battle Tournament.

As the name implies the final exam is a tournament between all the Genin who have passed the previous exams. The tournament is a single elimination tournament, meaning that once the participant loses a match, he or she is out of the tournament. However, unlike other tournaments even those who were eliminated in the first battle can be promoted to the rank of Chuunin if they display the necessary qualities.

Entering the arena along with the many civilians and shinobi were the foreign dignitaries. Those dignitaries included the leaders of Konoha, Suna, Kiri, Kusa, and Ame, as well as the daimyo for the countries of those taking the exams. Each one was, of course, escorted by a group of shinobi from their respective hidden village and was being led by a lone Konoha shinobi to an area reserved for them.

In the Kage's viewing box, the five village leaders spoke animatedly, boasting about the strength of their Genin. Or rather, three of them did seeing as Naruto and Gaara stayed out of it, preferring to listen to the other three leaders boast. Soon enough, the trio of leaders noticed this and turned to the two silent Kage. "What's wrong Hokage-dono?" asked the Rokudaime Mizukage, a beautiful brown haired woman roughly thirty years of age by the name of Miyuki Shinohara. "I can understand Kazekage-dono's silence, but I have yet to hear you speak today and you are normally the loudest among us."

Naruto Uzumaki, the Rokudaime Hokage of Konoha, simply grinned. "It's because this time I don't really have to tell you three about the greatness of Konoha's Genin. In fact, I'm one-hundred percent certain that at least one of my Genin will be promoted to Chuunin."

"That's what you say every time," commented the leader of Ame, a middle aged man who was beginning to show signs of a man much older than he is by the name of Katsuhiro Muroi. "What makes this time so different?"

"You'll just have to wait and see," replied the blonde Kage. "Regardless of who his first opponent will be, he will win without a doubt."

"That sounds like a challenge. What do you say to that, Kazekage-dono?" asked the leader of Kusa, a black haired young man roughly half of Naruto's age who went by the name of Kazushi Ikutsuki. "Do you think that your Genin will defeat Hokage-dono's?"

Normally Gaara would grin and say that his village's Genin would defeat those who came from Konoha, a competition that has been ongoing between he and Naruto for several years. His reply, however, was different from the usual. "If the strategy she chose to employ is successful then regardless of how powerful he may be, he will fall."

"Is that a challenge Kazekage-dono?" asked Naruto, grinning at his long time friend. "How about a little bet then?" Receiving no reply from Gaara, Naruto took this as a sign to go on. "If my Genin can defeat your Genin, then he will receive training in your village for one month. And if your Genin wins, she'll receive training here for one month as well. The ones who will teach them will be decided by the winner. How about it?"

'Clever,' Gaara immediately said in his mind. Having known Naruto for nearly three decades now he understood exactly what his friend was attempting to say. "I see no reason not to. But, why not make it more interesting?"

"What did you have in mind?"

"A time limit. Your Genin must achieve victory within ten minutes from the start of the match otherwise I will be the winner of this bet. Agreed?"

Naruto paused to think for a moment, or at least made it look like he was thinking. "Agreed."

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Inside the arena, in a room reserved for the competitors, Kaname and Fujitaka leaned against the wall, observing all the other competitors. The two of them had only exchanged a simple greeting upon meeting each other before turning their attention to the other Genin in the room.

They had, after all, agreed on the day the preliminary exam ended that until the end of the third exam they would take the exam seriously and seeing as they were opponents in the first round, they couldn't afford to let their friendship get in their way. They wouldn't kill each other, which went without saying, but they wouldn't give the other a chance to fight back if at all possible.

The moment the fight began they would treat each other as enemies and would fight their hardest to defeat the other. No holding back, no second chances should one make a mistake, just a straight out fight until a victor was decided.

Both of them carefully examined the various competitors, listening to some of them boast in hopes of getting an idea of what they might be capable of. However, both of them had one similar thought running through their heads. Where's Ranma?

True enough, Ranma wasn't there yet. The pigtailed martial artist was nowhere to be found. Not even a hint of Ranma-chan's red hair could be seen in the group of Genin.

Soon enough, it was time to start. A Jounin walked towards the Genin, looking at the group just as they turned to him. "It's time to start."

All the Genin nodded and followed the Jounin to the grounds, listening to the people cheer as they entered. "Here are the rules for the final exam," began the Jounin. "The rules are the same as those from the preliminaries. The fight will go on until a winner is decided. To win you have to incapacitate, kill, or force your opponent to concede. Of course, if I decide that the fight is over, then I expect you to stop fighting otherwise I will be allowed to disqualify you if you take things too far. Is that understood?"

All the Genin nodded. "Good. But before we begin, there is one last thing I have to say. All five village leaders had come to a decision before the start of the Chuunin exam. Though you've already been assigned your opponents it was decided that in order to better test your performance, you will all draw lots once more to determine your real opponent for the finals."

Almost as soon as the Jounin finished speaking, several Genin cried out in outrage, complaining about how unfair it was to suddenly change their opponents. "A shinobi, especially a Chuunin, must always be prepared to face the unexpected," said the Jounin in a flat tone. "I'm certain that some of you have gone through training specifically to prepare you for your fight against your first opponent. In a real battle, you cannot train just to fight a single shinobi as there is the possibility of ending up fighting someone else. You must always be ready to face different kinds of opponents."

The Jounin reached into his pocket and pulled out severel folded pieces of paper. "Now, step forward one by one and take one. This will determine who your opponents for the finals are."

Once all the Genin had picked a number and relayed it to the Jounin, the final exam officially began. "For the first match," announced the Jounin, "Bunta Yamagata of Kusa versus Maki Tsukishima of Ame. All competitors aside form those two, please proceed to the waiting area."

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Standing atop the Hokage monument, looking down upon the village of Konoha, was a certain pink-haired kunoichi. Beside her was the same brown-haired woman she met with the day after the end of the preliminaries. "How is everything going?" asked the woman.

"Everything is still going as expected," replied Sakura, looking down on the throng of people walking towards the Chuunin Exam Stadium. "If my prediction is right, then today's fight will be an important one. The result of today's battle will decide our next course of action. Whether or not we turn to our alternative plan will be decided today."

"What do _you _think?"

"Me? It doesn't take a genius to figure out that we'll have to resort to our alternative plan. Nothing ever goes as planned with that man. Even the most carefully and well thought out plans fall apart when he's involved."

As they continued to watch the village, the crowd began to thin, the stadium began to fill up and soon the sound of the beginning of the first battle could be heard in the distance. "It seems they've started." Looking off into the distance, the brown haired woman smirked. "And it seems that the last piece on the board has finally arrived."

"…"

"Is something wrong?"

Sakura shook her head, never taking her eyes off the village. "I just never thought I'd find myself in this position. Even now I still find it hard to believe. When I wake up, sometimes I think that it was all just a dream. I know that it's all real, that there's no going back. But I often can't help but wonder what would have happened if I hadn't accepted the offer."

"…"

Sakura was silent for a moment before she seemed to realize something and said, "Sorry."

"What are you apologizing for?"

"Well, you did say you didn't like it when others complain to you. So, I'm sorry."

"Stop apologizing," said the woman, watching as a red clad figure continued to swiftly make its way to the village. "You're simply human, you're entitled to it. Besides, we've known each other for a long time and we'll be seeing more of each other for countless years to come. At the very least I'd like to think that we're close enough that you would think better of me."

Sakura smiled sheepishly, turning her gaze down to the ground below. "Sorry."

"Stop apologizing," repeated the woman. "Anyway, shouldn't you be on your way? You don't want to be late for the fights now would you?"

"There's only one fight worth watching today."

"I suppose you're right," said the brown-haired woman, agreeing with her pink-haired companion. "Well, I had best be going. There are things I must finish before his return. I will see you again when I have the time."

"Alright. I'll send word through Mizuki if anything important comes up." After giving Sakura a nod in return the woman simply disappeared. No puff of smoke, no swirl of leaves or any element for that matter that signaled her disappearance. One moment she was there and then the next, she was gone. Looking towards the forest, Sakura grinned when she saw a certain red clad figure leap above the treeline before dropping back down. "Good luck Ranma. You'll need it." And just like the previous woman, Sakura disappeared without a trace.

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"Winner, Bunta Yamagata of Kusa!"

The crowd cheered, despite the fact that neither competitor was a Konoha-nin. It was mainly because it was rare to see an Earth user stand up to a Lightning user and win using an Earth Technique. In the Kage's booth, the young leader of Kusa cheered lightly and boasted to the leader of Ame that his Genin were better than his. Naruto and Miyuki had to intervene just so that the two village leaders wouldn't end up fighting. Katsuhiro was, after all, known for his short temper.

The next fight was one that had both Naruto and Miyuki cheering, inwardly of course. "Will Shikanenai Nara and Sanzo Shikimori please come down," called the Jounin who was the proctor for the final exam. Both the Konoha-nin and the Kiri-nin jumped down to the battle area and stood in front of each other, waiting for the match to begin. "Ready?" both Genin nodded.  
"Begin!"

Just like his fight in the preliminaries, the Kiri-nin started the fight by retrieving several barrels of water from a storage scroll. Seeing this, Konoha's own Shikanenai rushed forward, threw several kunai ad shuriken ahead of him, and began to aggressively attack Sanzo once he got close enough, forcing him away from the barrels before he could open it.

Once Shikanenai stood in between Sanzo and the barrels of water, he started forming handseals while Sanzo recovered from the backflip he did to avoid the Nara's attack. In another moment Shikanenai finished the sequence and held his hands in the position of the final seal.

No more than fifteen feet in front of him, Sanzo watched, eyes widening in surprise, as the Nara's shadow suddenly lengthened and rushed towards him. Remembering what it did from hid experience during the preliminaries, Sanzo turned to the right and dashed away before the shadow could make contact with his. Sanzo continued running until the shadow suddenly stopped before racing back to its owner.

Shikanenai ran to his left, running around the barrels to try and keep Sanzo as far away from it as possible. He pulled several kunai from his right holster and threw them at Sanzo the moment he stopped running. In return, Sanzo pulled out a kunai of his own and blocked two that would have hit him while the rest passed harmlessly on either side of him.

He ran towards his opponent, throwing the kunai in his hand. Once he was close enough, Sanzo lunged forward with an open hand while Shikanenai prepared to block and counter the coming attack. Seeing that his opponent chose to take the attack head on, Sanzo grinned ever so slightly the moment his hand made contact with Shikanenai's arm.

The Nara yelled out in pain at that moment as a searing pain went through his arm. Sanzo jumped away just as Shikanenai brought his other arm around, slashing at Sanzo with a kunai. During that time, Shikanenai spied a strange seal on Sanzo's palm and, upon inspection, his arm as well. He didn't have time to think about the effects of the seal as Sanzo dashed towards him once more. Shikanenai rushed forward to meet his opponent and engaged him in several bouts of taijutsu, which was more or less a draw up until Shikanenai managed to kick Sanzo away.

While Sanzo recovered from the kick, Shikanenai started forming handseals once more. Sanzo saw this and by the time he stood up it was too late as Shikanenai had finished the sequence. Despite this, Sanzo was grinning and had actually dashed towards Shikanenai once more. Thinking that he hadn't seen the handseal, Shikanenai initiated his technique.

Everyone watching the fight was stunned by what had just happened. Most of the people in the stands knew what a Nara was capable of and thought that the Kiri-nin was stupid for rushing towards him just as the former had finished forming the handseal for one of his family's techniques. They were shocked when not only did the Nara do nothing but also, the Kiri-nin had managed to get close enough to attack.

Confused by the fact that his shadow was unresponsive, when he was sure he had done the technique properly, he was barely able to avoid being punched in the face by a smirking Sanzo, who followed up by a high kick that nearly hit his chin. Quickly lowering his leg he lunged forward, trying to grab onto Shikanenai. That was when he saw it and everything made sense to him as his mind quickly made the best possible theory.

'So the seal on his hand and on my arm has something to do with this,' thought Shikanenai, remembering the seal that Sanzo had placed on his arm no more than three minutes earlier. 'Still, a technique to block out my Chakra can't be without any disadvantages. I'll just have to find out what it is and see if I can turn his misfortune into my good fortune.'

Sanzo and Shikanenai continued to fight using only taijutsu, occasionally pulling out a kunai or throwing kunai or shuriken when they separated long enough to do so. Many times Sanzo came close to the barrels of water but did nothing to attempt to open even one of them, opting to continue with his all-out taijutsu attack on the Nara. This action was all that Shikanenai needed to figure out the final piece of the puzzle. 'So he can't use any techniques while the sealing away my own. For now that's good.'

The fight wore on with neither fighter gaining the advantage over the other. The spectators started to complain to their companions about how boring the match had become. The Chuunin and Jounin spectators, however, thought differently. They had noticed the plan that one of the Genin had come up with and, although simple, it was very effective if he could pull it off. They watched in fascination as the Genin finished up his plan and began to execute the final stage.

Grabbing Shikanenai by the arm, Sanzo punched him in the gut with his other hand before he felt the same burning sensation from before. Sanzo shoved Shikanenai away soon after, causing him to fall to the ground, and ran towards the waiting barrels.

Looking at his arm, Shikanenai liked what he saw, or rather what he didn't see. The seal that Sanzo had placed on him earlier had disappeared and that meant that he could once again use Chakra. And though it meant the same for his opponent, he didn't seem all that worried even when he saw that Sanzo had already destroyed the three barrels, releasing its liquid content.

'Just a little more,' he thought, forming handseals as quickly as he could while Sanzo did the same. Shikanenai finished first, his shadow stretching towards the Kiri-nin. Halfway towards its target, Sanzo finished his own handseals and everyone watched as several clones rose from the water just as Shikanenai's shadow connected with Sanzo's.

'It's useless,' thought Sanzo as his clones dashed towards his opponent. 'He won't have enough time to disable me since he'll be too busy fighting off my clones. It's over.'

Shikanenai, on the other hand, was running from the clones, an action that was mimicked by Sanzo. Just as Shikanenai's back was to the wall, whereas Sanzo was standing right at the center of the arena, Shikanenai released his technique and ran up the wall. Sanzo was about to follow but a series of explosions littered the battle area.

All around the Kiri-nin hidden explosive tags went off, knocking Sanzo around with each explosion close to him while his clones were destroyed. From the wall, Shikanenai watched as his plan went into action as explosion after explosion rocked the arena. From his vantage point on the wall, he could see Sanzo getting knocked around by the explosions and struck by the debris from the explosions.

Once the last of the explosions have gone off, the Jounin, who had leapt to safety right after the first explosion, didn't wait for the smoke to clear before rushing to check on Sanzo's situation. While the explosives weren't all that powerful, getting caught in several could cause severe injuries and burns. He found the boy lying on his side and after a quick examination found him unconscious with no severe injuries. He had a scratches, bruises and a few burns, nothing a medic-nin couldn't fix.

Once the smoke cleared, he was about to declare Shikanenai the victor when he saw something moving out of the corner of his eye. He turned to his right just in time to see Shikanenai destroy a water clone that had survived the explosions but not before getting hit hard enough to send him flying and crashing into the wall.

The Jounin rushed over to the fallen Genin, crouching beside the boy. Standing after a quick check, he announced, "Neither Genin is able to continue. This match is a draw."

The reaction from the crowd was mixed. Some cheered for the great display of ability and planning while others were disappointed that Konoha's Genin was knocked out just before the end of the match could be called. A select few were disgruntled at the fact that they had lost money on a bet they had placed with their friends.

In the Kage's viewing box, the Mizukage was slightly impressed at the Genin's strategic ability. She had, of course, seen the Nara placing the explosive tags in the ground, disreetly placing them and moving the soil over it to hide it as best as he could without drawing attention. She was disappointed that her own Genin had not seen some of the poorly hidden tags but that was balanced out by his use of his family's special technique.

"The third round is between Kimiko Aikawa and Ranma Saotome," called out the Jounin. None of the village leaders missed the excited expression that briefly appeared on Naruto's face at the mention of Ranma's name. "Will both fighters proceed to the battle area."

The brown haired kunoichi from Kusa leapt down to the ground, landing in one of the craters formed by the explosions of the previous match. She was still quite young, though a year or two older than Ranma, but seeing someone at her age still a Genin wasn't that much of a surprise. She wore a long-sleeved, forest green shirt with matching shinobi pants. The bottoms of her pants were wrapped shut by bandages just as her forearms, wrists and hands were wrapped with bandages as well.

The Jounin looked around but the other fighter, however, didn't come down. "Will Ranma Saotome please come down for your fight," called out the Jounin, looking around for any sign of the pigtailed teen. He was just about to call out the third and final warning when a teenager clad in red landed in front of him.

"Sorry about that," he said. "I overslept this morning so I had to run all the way back." He was wearing his usual attire, a red Chinese shirt, black pants, and black slippers. On his arms were the same arm guards he had gotten from Naruto and underneath his pants were the shin guards. Though he would be fighting he had kept the weight seals filled with Chakra, knowing that he wouldn't have to fight at full power.

"For a minute there I thought Kakashi may have taught you more than just ninjutsu," commented the Jounin. "Now then, the third match. Kimiko Aikawa versus Ranma Saotome, begin."

Unlike Ranma's match during the preliminaries, this match began almost as soon as the proctor gave the word. Both fighters were a blur of movement to the civilians and some of the lower-ranked shinobi. To the higher-level shinobi, however, the speed the two were displaying weren't that much of a surprise. Many of the Konoha shinobi, however, weren't that interested in the fight. They had seen what Ranma was capable of so they were certain that he would win the battle.

"That's the Genin we were talking about earlier," stated Gaara, watching Ranma's fight with unveiled interest. "Ranma Saotome."

"No offense kid," Naruto spoke to the leader of Kusa. "But your Genin doesn't stand a chance against Ranma. He's undoubtedly the most powerful Genin in the village. He's even more powerful than many Chuunin."

"Well, no offense old man," returned Kazushi with a grin. "But Kimiko is one of the best taijutsu fighters in Kusa. This is nowhere near the level she normally uses. If this is the best your Genin can give then he'll lose once she gets serious. She's fighting nowhere near half her real power."

"And I'm sorry to say that neither is Ranma," replied the blonde Hokage. 'He's not even fighting at a quarter of his full power for that matter,' he added in his head. "But if it's a taijutsu fight she wants then that's what she'll get. Ranma is a master level in his family's style. And he's well on his way to reaching the level of the Grandmaster."

Down below, Ranma grinned as he managed to find an opening in Kimiko's defense, lashing out with a kick to her abdomen that sent her flying back and skidding across the ground after she landed on her feet. Seeing that she was at an obvious disadvantage, she formed handseals and formed ten Earth Clones, which rose from the ground. Looking up, she saw Ranma's trademark grin appear on his face as faint wisps of white left his body. The wisps of energy traveled to Ranma's side where they somehow expanded and took the form of Ranma, forming four clones.

The spectators suddenly burst into excitement upon seeing that feat. Whispers of how he could perform a technique without handseals was going around. Many were also interested in the faint white energy that left his body, wondering what it was as Chakra was generally a pale blue color when it left the body directly. The only exception to that was the Chakra of the tailed beasts.

To Naruto's right, the leader of Kusa was gaping openly at the sight he had just seen. Even the leader of Ame and the Mizukage were gaping at the sight. Gaara was only mildly surprised, having been informed of Ranma's unique abilities by Naruto. But hearing and seeing were two completely different things.

Up in the stands, a certain auburn haired girl was also gaping at the sight. Ranma had never before displayed any sign of being able to use techniques without handseals. Not only that, but he had never given any indication of having a special technique of any sort. She remembered that during the preliminaries he shot out a blast of white energy. However, she simply passed it off as a high level technique. Now, after seeing the white energy, she thought otherwise. 'Is this some sort of Bloodline Ability?' She asked herself. 'I've never heard of white Chakra being used before. At least, not in recent times.'

She looked to her right where Kurenai, Misami and, more importantly, Kakashi were sitting. Though the man was long dead, he was mentioned in the dossier of Konoha's shinobi. Sakumo Hatake, Konoha's White Fang, a man whose strength was often compared to that of the Sannin, and the father of the Copy-nin, Kakashi Hatake. He was the only man who was ever recorded to have used white Chakra.

'Is it possible though? Perhaps, but for all we known they could be distantly related. I'll just have to pass on my suspicions until we can find out more about this. I wonder what else he's kept hidden from me?'

It took less than two minutes for Ranma's clones to destroy Kimiko's, even though she had created twice as many. The simple fact that her clones only held a percentage of her power compared to Ranma's clones, which were equal in ability to the original, was enough of a deciding factor. Throughout the fight between the two groups of clones, Kimiko kept her composure, carefully analyzing the situation.

'This boy is supposedly able to defeat the Hokage should he refrain from utilizing the power of the demon,' she thought, going over everything that Satsuki had told her. 'And that was with only the use of taijutsu. She never mentioned his ability to create clones in this manner so it's safe to assume that he has purposely not revealed his true power in front of her. And that energy, it was the same color as the attack he used in the preliminaries. What is it?'

She jumped back, avoiding an attack from one of Ranmas clones. She rushed forward, expecting a quick victory only to find herself in a deadlock against the clone. 'What is this? How can a clone be this powerful?' she asked, finding herself losing very quickly when a second clone joined the fight. 'It seems I'll have to stop holding back so much.'

One moment she was about to get kicked by one clone and punched by the other, then the next moment she was gone, reappearing a few feet in front of where she stood. Another moment later both clones disappeared, turning into the same white wisp of energy they had come from. She dashed towards the other two clones, held a kunai in each hand and slashed as she ran past them only to miss as they dodged at the last moment. She ignored them, knowing that they were no longer a threat, and continued to run towards the real Ranma.

Ranma saw this and dashed towards Kimiko, the grin never leaving his face. Just before they came within range of each other, Ranma deftly leapt over Kimiko, just high enough to barely touch her. He crouched upon landing, avoiding the slashing attack Kimiko sent his way as she spun around. He rolled back a bit and onto his hands and head to avoid her leg sweep before he launched himself off the ground with his hands, avoiding another leg sweep.

Reacting quickly, Kimiko leapt after Ranma to engage him in an aerial battle. Before she could reach him though, a leg found its way into her gut before it was quickly followed up by a barrage of lightning fast punches and kick from either side of her. 'The clones,' she immediately realized, mentally berating herself for forgetting about them. She fought back as hard as she could but against a specialist of aerial combat she could only block half the attacks while the clones easily fought off her attempted counterattack.

She managed to slash both clones with her kunai, destroying both of them but not without suffering quite a bit of damage. 'How could someone be this powerful at such a young age?' she asked herself in distress, landing on the ground on her knees while coughing out a bit of blood. 'No matter. Raw power is useless in the hands of those who are weak of mind. Let us see how he fares in terms of strategy.'

Kimiko started forming handseals just as Ranma landed several maters in front of her. She finished quickly, calling out the name of her technique. "Earth Release: Claw of the Underworld."

Ranma recognized the name of the technique from the preliminaries and immediately jumped to the side to avoid the hand that rose from the ground, one that closed around what could have been him had he not jumped away. Unfortunately, that was just the beginning. He jumped away again, having sensed something coming up from right underneath him. He had moved just in time as a large spike that was twice his height and width erupted form the ground.

It wasn't just there. From all around him, large earth spikes erupted from the ground until there were six all around him. "Earth Release," he heard Kimiko's voice call out from behind one of the spikes. "Earth Spike Barrage." Smaller spikes emerged from the larger ones, much like he had seen in the preliminaries, before launching themselves towards him.

Ranma leapt upwards, avoiding the initial barrage. Soon, however, more spikes were launched towards him. With an amazing display of aerial acrobatics, Ranma dexterously dodged the countless spikes, sometimes using them as stepping stones to better maneuver himself around in the air.

Just as he was dodging the last of the spikes, he found himself surrounded by Kimiko and a handful of clones. With his trademark grin once again on his face, his body glowed white for a brief moment before a powerful wave of energy blew away all those around him. Half the clones slammed into the ground hard, destroying them, while the other half managed to land properly only to be attacked and destroyed by Ranma soon after. Without giving her time to recover, Ranma ran straight for Kimiko, engaging her in a high speed battle once again.

"Still think she can beat Ranma?" Naruto asked the gaping leader of Kusa. "Ranma is by far one of the strongest people I've ever met. There's no doubt in my mind that he will be one of the strongest humans alive given time."

"Isn't that a little too much?" asked Miyuki, still in awe of the abilities of the boy below. "To go so far as to say that he will become the most powerful? If he was younger but was still this powerful then I could understand."

"He is not even eighteen and yet he has already come this far," commented Gaara, watching the fight with growing interest. "To a shinobi it may not be much of an accomplishment but where he comes from, fighting is not a way of life. From what Naruto has told me, their taijutsu masters are often middle aged. He is but a young man yet he is already far past the level of a taijutsu master."

"What of his special abilities?" asked the woman. "The only man I have heard of to have used white Chakra would be Konoha's White Fang. Yet you say that this boy is from a foreign land."

"I'm sorry to say that even I don't know how he does it," Naruto replied remorsefully. "All I managed to gather is that it's similar to Chakra yet different. Like Chakra it has many uses as you have seen. It's more potent in terms of raw power but it cannot be molded into different elements like Chakra."

"So this boy cannot use Chakra?" asked the leader of Ame.

"As far as I know, he can't," lied Naruto. "Although he has managed to replicate a few techniques he saw such as Replacement and Transformation. We're not really sure what he can recreate with his unique brand of energy but from what we've noticed, he can't recreate any elemental techniques."

"Quite a powerful shinobi you have at your disposal," Miyuki commented absently. She leaned back into the chair, crossed her legs, and folded her arms underneath her breasts. "I suppose he would be your chosen successor to the title of Hokage."

"What makes you say that?" asked the whiskered man, genuinely wondering what made the woman assume that Ranma was to be the next Hokage.

"I'm interested to know as well," stated Katsuhiro, leaning back into his seat and a turning a little to face the woman while still being able to keep an eye on the intense fight below.

Miyuki continued to watch the fight as though she had not heard the request. She nodded in approval when Ranma once again found an opening in Kimiko's defense and continued to relentlessly attack the brown haired girl. Just when Kimiko found an opportunity to jump away, Ranma quickly grabbed onto her leg, pulled her back, and thrust an open palm strike with his other hand aimed for her abdomen just as he released her leg, sending her flying back forcefully.

"This boy," she began, earning the attention of the other four village leaders. "I feel… drawn to him for some reason." She shut her eyes for a moment before opening them again. "It's as though there's a charismatic aura around him. It's the kind of aura around men who are renowned as great leaders. Not all of those men became leaders of their village, but they were great leaders nonetheless."

"So he'll be a great squad leader one day," said Kazushi. "Big deal."

Miyuki shook her head. "No. He's destined for greater things than that. If every Kage and village leader were but leaders of men, then that boy is destined to be a leader of leaders." That statement was certainly more than enough to silence the other four leaders, causing them to stare at Ranma in an attempt to see what it was that the Mizukage had seen in him.

'This can't be happening,' thought Kimiko, holding a hand to her abdomen, which had been the target for many of Ranma's swift and relentless attacks. 'How can he be so powerful? Nothing I try works against him. His taijutsu far surpasses mine and ninjutsu is useless if he keeps interrupting me before I can finish forming the necessary handseals. I didn't plan on doing this so soon but I have no choice.'

Kimiko quickly began forming handseals, handseals that Ranma was not familiar with. "What is she doing?" Naruto asked Kazushi. He turned to face the young leader only to find that he seemed to be just as confused as the other leaders. "What's going on?"

"I… don't know," he replied, feeling himself grow nervous for some reason. "Mamoru never said anything about this."

"Naruto." The blonde man turned around to face his long time friend. Gaara nodded before turning his attention to the Genin in the waiting area, specifically the other Kusa-nin, Bunta Yamagata.

Not wanting to see what

"I'm sorry to have to tell you this," Naruto began, causing Kazushi and the other two leaders to wonder what he was about to say. "But I believe that the Genin team you sent was killed before they even got here."

"What?" hissed out Kazushi, knowing better than to yell it out loud in public. "What do you mean by that?"

"It means exactly what I said," replied Naruto, his tone more serious now than before.

"How would you explain how they could look exactly like my Genin? If it were a simple transformation someone should have seen through it by now."

"I'll have to explain later," said the blonde, standing up from his seat along with Gaara. Both Kage shed their outer robes, revealing their combat attire underneath. Both disappeared with the Body Flicker, one with leaves and the other with sand, and reappeared down below right in between Ranma and Kimiko. "That's enough," Naruto stated seriously, causing everyone to wonder what he was doing stopping the fight. "Now I know for certain that it's you."

"What are you talking about?" asked Kimiko, looking annoyed as opposed to confused.

"Don't even try that. I already know it's you. Shiori Kouji!"

The crowd was suddenly in an uproar at that declaration. To learn that the shinobi of an enemy village was able to infiltrate their village as a Genin and go undetected for a month was certainly a cause for panic.

Soon after this declaration, the other two Kusa-nin, along the three Ame-nin, appeared alongside the disguised Kage. "Tch, I didn't think you'd find out so soon," replied Kimiko or rather, Shiori. "Tell me, how did you know it was me?"

"You're too predictable," replied Naruto just as the other three village leaders appeared beside him and Gaara. "You had already tried to kill me by using Satsuki. You knew that a full-scale battle against us would lead to your defeat so you did the next best thing, infiltration. Although I am surprised that you came personally. Though what did make it obvious was that you have Orochimaru's journal in your possession."

"And you knew what we would do next based on that tiny piece of information?"

Naruto shook his head. "During the war against Oto, we kept a close watch on Orochimaru's activities. Because of this, we know all of his secrets. While we may not know how he does certain things, we still know what he is capable of. Orochimaru had the ability to literally steal another person's face. With his journal it would have been easy for you to do the same."

"I'm impressed. However, did you expect this?"

As though waiting for her to say those very words, several explosions were heard from all directions. Seconds later an ANBU appeared just behind Naruto. "Hokage-sama, the walls have been heavily damaged by the explosions and Iwa and Kumo shinobi are attacking." Naruto looked around him, seeing the civilians in the stand running around in panic while the shinobi tried to calm them down. "The civilians are in a panic and many shinobi are unsure of what to do."

"It may lack originality, but you have to admit that you are fools for not preparing for this," stated Shiori, peeling off the face of the Genin that she had stolen just as three of the five shinobi around her did the same. "Orochimaru did it once yet you allowed yourself to be caught unprepared a second time. Unlike Orochimaru however, we will succeed. Even if this attack fails, a third of the combined army of Iwa and Kumo should be attacking Suna by now. So tell me, what's more important to you Uzumaki? Your village, or your life?"

Shiori and her cohorts suddenly dashed towards the five village leaders who were all ready for the fight that was about to begin. Before they could reach the five village leaders, they were all knocked back by a powerful blast that came from right in front of them. The other five only managed to stay where they were because of a wall of sand that stood in between them. Once it had all come to pass, Gaara lowered the wall of sand and allowed them all to see what had caused the blast.

"Get out of the way Ranma," commanded Naruto, forming a familiar swirling orb in each hand. "That's the Tsuchikage. The rest of them are most likely Jounin."

"Seriously?" Ranma asked, turning to the blond man with a confounded look on his face. He turned back to face the group of six in front of him. "So they must be pretty weak then," he stated after a moment, causing a lot of them to growl at him. "I mean how else would Fujitaka be able to beat one of them?"

"Well, you've got a point there," conceded Naruto. "Still, you're out of your league here. I know you're strong but not even you would stand a chance against five Jounin and a Kage."

"Your village needs you," Ranma said in reply just as several explosions were heard in the distance. "You told me yourself. Your village is more important to you than your life."

"You are one of the people living in this village," Naruto shot back heatedly.

"Which is why I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing. The duty of the shinobi is to protect the village AND the Kage of their village," he shot back, putting his hands into his pocket in his trademark stance. "And the duty of a martial artist like me is to protect those who cannot protect themselves."

"Are you saying I'm weak?"

"Why do people always think that?" he muttered in annoyance, shaking his head. "I'm not talking about you," he replied out loud. "I'm talking about the villagers. Now go. I can handle them by myself. I've faced worse odds after all. I trained my ass off this past month for these fights. Fighting six at the same time won't make a difference to me. Besides," he paused taking one hand out of his pocket and tapping the arm guard on his opposite arm. "I'm not even going all out just yet."

Naruto was struggling with himself. On one hand he could stay and fight the Tsuchikage, most likely killing her if she doesn't run and possibly ending the war sooner than planned. On the other hand the village would definitely need his help. The attack, after all, happened before so he just needed to remember that it was going to happen. Though how could he forget. It was the same battle that killed hundreds of shinobi and even more civilians.

This time around though, they were ready. The shinobi of Konoha were already in place. Chuunin had taken the place of the academy students, Jounin and ANBU were disguised as civilians, and Genin, along with some Chuunin, were responsible for evacuation. Suna shinobi were hidden in the forest with complex Genjutsu. Once the forces of Iwa and Kumo moved past them, they would jump out and attack them from behind, catching them in a pincer attack with the forces of Konoha, who would attack from within the village. Even the ANBU that had appeared to deliver the news of the attack was all part of the plan to make it look as though they had been taken by surprise. The panicking civilians were real though.

Even the village of Suna was ready for an invasion. Their plan of defense was unknown to Naruto, due to the fact that the planning of their defense took place in Suna, but Gaara guaranteed that they would be successful in their defense of their home.

Shikamaru had planned it all in advance, every possible attack plan the enemy could make had been gone over, and a plan to counter those plans had been made and explained to all Jounin and ANBU. However, they were still outnumbered 3 to 1 by the larger forces of Iwa and Kumo due to the casualties Konoha and Suna received at the hands of Orochimaru and his army.

That was all that Naruto needed to make his decision. "Alright," he conceded, surprising the three village leaders who had not seen what Ranma was truly capable of. "I'll leave this to you. Don't die on me Ranma. After all," he began, his next words confusing those around him. "You still have your own war to fight once this is all over."

"I know."

"And I suppose the three of you are still going to stay neutral in this war," he said, stating a fact rather than asking a question.

"They attacked and killed my Genin," replied Katsuhito. "If that isn't a sign that they are our enemies than I don't know what is. Despite what happened between our villages in the past, I'm certain that the time to let bygones be bygones has already come to pass long ago. You can count on Ame to help you in this war."

"Same here," Kazushi stated firmly. "We may be small compared to the five Great Villages, but that doesn't mean we're weak."

"We've been on neutral terms for a long time now, even before I became the Mizukage," stated Miyuki. "But everything changes I suppose and perhaps allying ourselves with Konoha isn't such a bad change. Though we will have to negotiate proper terms of alliance once this is all over."

Inwardly Naruto smirked. Having knowledge of the future was certainly a good thing. Normally he would have been worried that he might change too much and that the future he had lived through might not come to pass. But, he reasoned, if he could earn an alliance with Kiri, then victory was theirs no matter what Iwa and Kumo tried.

Usually he'd be against manipulation but in this case it was very much necessary. It had taken a while for him to convince Kusa, Ame and Kiri to enter a team into the Chuunin exams but now it was obvious that all that time was worth it. Kusa and Ame were the easiest of the three. The bad blood between the two villages and Konoha stemmed from the past but with the passage of time, only the older generation remembered but even then the anger had faded away.

Kiri was much harder to convince. The village of Kiri, though small compared to the other four greater villages, produced high quality shinobi due to their harsh training methods. They also preferred to keep to themselves, choosing not to involve themselves in the problems of the other shinobi nations. The only war they fought was one that directly involved them. For their Mizukage to choose to ally themselves with one side of a war, that was a surprise in itself. And by the look of surprise on Shiori's face, she definitely didn't expect that.

"We can talk about it in detail once this is over," replied Naruto. "For now, there are hundreds of Iwa and Kumo shinobi out there just waiting to die." The four leaders nodded and disappeared, leaving only Naruto. "Ranma, be careful. Don't get too cocky."

"Like I said, don't worry about me. Besides, I can't die just yet. There's a promise I still have to keep." Naruto nodded at this and disappeared in a swirl of leaves just as several more explosions went of in the distance, leaving Ranma standing there with the Tsuchikage her five cohorts. "Well, ready when you are."

"Are you that willing to lay your life down for that man?" asked Shiori, staring Ranma directly in the eyes. "From what I've learned, you're just a foreigner who was hired to fight in this war. Why would you fight so hard for someone you don't even know?"

"I've got my own reasons for being here," he replied calmly. "As for your other question, I'm not fighting for him. I have other reasons for fighting so hard."

"Then why not fight for me instead? I'm more than certain that I can give you whatever he has to offer, and more."

"Asides from extra training there really isn't anything else that I want. The only pay I get is what a mission normally pays. Other than that, I'm not really getting paid." His reply surprised the woman a bit. She had assumed that someone as powerful as him would take quite a bit of money, or at least something of greater value. Yet now she learns otherwise. "And like I said, I have other reasons for fighting so don't even bother trying to convince me."

"I see. In that case," she paused, giving a small nod. The five shinobi behind her moved quickly, surrounding in a second. "I'll just have to kill you before you become a liability."

All five dashed towards Ranma at the same time, forcing Ranma to jump towards the sky to avoid being overwhelmed too soon. The five followed him up into the air, surrounding him once more. "You just made a huge mistake," Ranma stated confidently. "Aerial combat is the Saotome specialty."

One of the men to Ranma's right lashed out with a spin kick to Ranma's head just as the man opposite him did the same, aiming for Ranma's abdomen. Ranma blocked both attacks easily with his arm guards before grabbing both attacking legs with his hands. He pushed down on one leg while pulling the other down, rotating his body sideways and allowing him to kick one of them directly in the face. He allowed his momentum to continue the rotation, bringing his armored shin down on the head of the other shinobi. Both shinobi went crashing down to the ground while Ranma and the three kunoichi landed safely on the ground.

"This is payback!" yelled one of the kunoichi. Ranma immediately recognized her as the one he had beaten in the preliminaries. She brought the battle hammer down with a wide grin on her face, aiming for Ranma's head.

The hammer was suddenly stopped in its tracks when Ranma caught the head of the hammer with both hands. He grunted at the amount of power he felt behind the attack. "You're stronger than the tomboy back home. But Ryoga is still a lot stronger than this." Ranma suddenly disappeared from his place, causing the hammer to strike the ground where he once stood. He reappeared behind the shocked kunoichi who couldn't believe the speed he had just displayed. "Just so you know, I'm a lot faster than this." Just like the preliminaries, she was out with a swift chop to the back of the neck.

Seeing another comrade go down, the last two kunoichi were about to charge in but were stopped by the call of their leader. "That's enough. You two, take the three of them and continue attacking the village. I'll handle this."

"Tsuchikage-sama?"

"It's obvious that he's much stronger than I originally thought. I'll handle this personally," she stated firmly, leaving no room for her subordinates to argue. "The other five cannot make much of a difference now that the attack has begun and with the knowledge we've acquired from the journal Uzumaki's demon won't be too much fo a bother. I want this village completely destroyed. Not a single building must be left standing. And if that cannot be done for some reason, destroy as much as you can starting with their academy and weapon shops. Understood?"

"Yes, Tsuchikage-sama," replied both kunoichi who quickly gathered their three fallen comrades before leaving the two fighters to the otherwise empty arena.

"You really hate this village huh?"

"It's not a matter of whether I like it or not," Shiori replied. "Someone like you wouldn't understand how the world of shinobi works. But now isn't the time for words, it's a time for action. Now show me just what you are truly capable of."

Ranma didn't say anything in return, simply keeping his focus on the enemy in front of him. He knew a serious fight when he saw one and this was certainly a serious fight. He would have to be careful otherwise he could end up dead.

Just as both fighters tensed, ready to attack, a voice called out from above. "We'll help you Ranma!" Leaping down from the stands and landing on either side of Ranma were Kaname, Fujitaka and Misami. "We can't just abandon you now can we?"

"We can't let you have all the fun now can we?" asked Fujitaka, grinning from ear to ear.

"I don't need the Byakugan to tell me that you're up against a strong opponent. You'll need every bit of help you can get if you want to beat her."

"You guys…"

"My, how touching," Shiori stated a little darkly. "Three little Genin trying to play hero. It makes me wonder how Konoha managed to remain standing when their Genin can't even tell when they're completely outclassed. Genin like you should learn when to back down instead of foolishly trying to show off."

"Don't underestimate us," yelled Kaname, raising a fist in front of her face. "Just because we're young doesn't mean we're weak."

"That's right," threw in Fujitaka. "We've been training hard this past month so that we won't be a burden to those around us. There are four of us and you're all alone. We can take you on no problem."

"Despite my loss in the preliminaries, I will prove that the Hyuuga Clan is superior regardless of how powerful you may be," declared Misami, activating her Byakugan and falling into the traditional Gentle Fist stance.

"Sorry to say," began Ranma somewhat coldly. "But I agree with her," he finished, shocking the three Genin. "You three really should learn when to back down."

"Wh-what?" stuttered out Kaname, surprised by not just the words but also how he said it. "B-But this probably a Jounin you're facing. We can't just let you fight a Jounin by yourself."

"She's not a Jounin you guys," replied Ranma. "That woman, is the Tsuchikage."

The trio gasped at the revelation of their opponent's identity. But recalling the name that the Hokage had stated earlier it made Misami wonder why they didn't realize it sooner. Shiori Kouji, Rokudaime Tsuchikage, daughter of Shiro Kouji, the Godaime Tsuchikage. They had been informed all about the current village leaders during their time in the academy so they should have realized it was her the moment Naruot announced her name. And now their forgetfulness may have just cost them their lives.

"Then all the more reason we should help you," Kaname shot back, her voice full of determination. "She may be the Tsuchikage but if all four of us fight as a team we'll have a better chance of surviving."

"If the four of us fight as a team then we'll lose for certain," countered Ranma somewhat harshly in Fujitaka's opinion. "The three of you are more of a liability than you are help. If you want to help then help the civilians."

"But we can't just leave you behind. You could get killed!"

"I'm not asking you to leave me behind to die, I'm asking you to trust me. Trust me when I say that I can beat her but not when I have to protect someone else." Ranma kept his eyes on his opponent while relying on his other senses to make sure that none of the three beside him did anything stupid. "There's a difference between fighting to protect someone and fighting while protecting someone. Trust me when I say that fighting while having to protect someone will make any fight that much harder."

"But-"

"Don't argue with me," he interrupted. "Please. I've been training since I could walk, fighting before I was even ten, and I've been in countless fights for my life for the past two years. She's someone I can't afford to hold back against and I can't fight at full power if I have to make sure that I don't end up hurting you three."

The three Genin went silent at that moment. While they did want to help Ranma his words, though harsh, were true. In a fight between two strong fighters helping one of them would only be a liability if the one who was helping wasn't strong enough. As one, the trio of Genin nodded. "Alright," said Misami. "We'll go. But just be sure to come back alive, alright? If you died Kurenai-sensei would probably find a way to bring you back to life just so she could kill you herself."

Ranma's grin soon found its way back onto his face as he said, "Don't worry about me. I still have a few aces up my sleeve. And if that's not enough there's always the Saotome style's ultimate move."

"Alright. Just make sure you don't die."

"Don't worry," came another voice from behind them. All four Konoha shinobi turned around and were greeted by the sight of a familiar girl. "I'll make sure he doesn't get himself killed."

"Satsuki? What are you doing here kid?" asked Fujitaka. "Never mind that. Come on, let's get out of here." The three Genin ran towards Satsuki with Fujitaka grabbing her by the arm as they ran past. He, however, soon found himself flat on the ground when Satsuki refused to be pulled along. "Hey, this isn't the time to play around," he yelled at Satsuki, reaching out to grab her once more.

"Who said anything about playing?" Satsuki asked monotonously. "I'm here to fight."

"Now listen here kid-"

"Relax," Ranma cut in. "She can stay."

"Wait, a kid like her gets to stay while we can't?" Kaname cried, outraged by the unfairness of the situation.

"They don't even know who she is, do they?" Shiori asked aloud, her question directed at Ranma. "Perhaps I should tell them and we'll see what they think."

"Tell us what? And how do you know Satsuki?"

"Oh, that's quite easy. I know her because she is my subordinate."

"Wait, what?" Kaname's anger quickly gave way to confusion at that statement. Did she really mean what she thought she meant?

"Ranma, is that true?" asked Fujitaka, glancing warily at the young girl standing in front of him. "Is she an Iwa-nin?" Ranma nodded. "Then why didn't you say anything? If you knew there was a spy in the village you should have told someone immediately."

"A spy? Hardly," scoffed Satsuki. "I was captured in the last battle and instead of being killed by your Hokage, this imbecile decided that I needed help regaining my childhood. Because of that, I became a prisoner here."

"A prisoner? It looked more like you'd become a member of this village. I mean, you even went to the academy."

"True, but only because he somehow managed to convince the Hokage to treat me as an ordinary villager instead of a prisoner."

"Well, that was quite a foolish decision on your part," commented Shiori. "Now my most powerful shinobi is back with me. This village has no chance of survival. Satsuki, eliminate them."

The three Genin tensed as Satsuki turned at the waist to look at them menacingly, ready to try and fight off the young girl they knew they stood no chance against if she truly was the most powerful shinobi of Iwa barring the Tsuchikage of course. However, no attack came after a few seconds. All Satsuki did during that time was turn around to face the Tsuchikage. "No."

"Wh-what?" asked Shiori in surprise. 'This wasn't part of the plan. What are you planning Satsuki? Or are you honestly defecting to Konoha?'

"You heard what I said. I'm through being your weapon. I may have been grateful to you at the beginning, but after that incident one year ago I swore to myself that I would find a way to escape."

"Ungrateful girl. Have you forgotten what I've done for you?"

"You've done nothing asides from train me," she yelled back. "In the beginning I had thought it was so that I could avenge my father by killing Uzumaki. But that day that I tried to escape, I learned that it wasn't like that. You had planned on taking advantage of my desire for revenge to destroy this village. Once that was done, you had planned on giving me to the Raikage since he desired the Bloodline I poses."

"Well, it was what we had agreed upon once we learned what you were. After all, an uncontrollable weapon is a dangerous one to have. You never know when it might turn against you."

"Well I'm done being your weapon. You feared that I would turn against you so now it's time to face your fears."

"And how do you expect to beat me?" Shiori asked haughtily. "From what I can sense you barely have any Chakra. Iwa's Genin have more Chakra than you do right now."

"I don't need Chakra to beat you. Let me show you the results of my training in this village."

Before Shiori could react, Satsuki was suddenly behind her, already in the middle of delivering a kick to her head. The kick missed completely when Shiori rolled forward only to jump away as Ranma demolished the ground she previously stood on with a powerful punch.

"Lightning Release: Lightning Wall Technique!"

Shiori barely managed to stop herself from running into a wall of lightning that erupted form the ground, effectively blocking her way. She looked behind it and saw a grinning Fujitaka, waving at her mockingly with one hand and standing beside him was Kaname, who had just finished the handseals she was forming. "Earth Release: Mirror World."

Kaname shoved her arms into the ground all the way up to her elbows and when she did so, a pair of arms erupted form the ground below Shiori. Kaname moved her arms, moving the arms made of earth as well. She quickly moved the arms into position, firmly held onto Shiori's ankles, and quickly moved her arms apart, causing the ones holding the Tsuchikage's ankles to pull her legs in separate directions.

Shiori cursed profusely under her breath, cursing herself for being caught off guard by two Genin. She started forming handseals to attack the two Genin who would dare try to challenge her when a voice called out from behind her. "Eight Trigrams Sixty-four Palms!"

She managed to turn her head just in time to see Misami quickly close the gap between them and begin her attack. "Two strikes!" Misami yelled out loud, closing off two of Shiori's Chakra points from behind. "Four strikes!" she called out once more, closing off two more. "Eight strikes! Sixteen strikes! Thirty-two strikes! Sixty-four strikes!" She continued with her attack, closing off more and more Chakra points before landing the sixty-fourth and most powerful blow she could muster just as Kaname relinquished her hold on Shiori's ankles.

The force of the blow she received was enough to send Shiori flying forward towards the wall of lightning. The three Genin cheered once they saw her hit the wall. Their victory, however, was short-lived as they saw Shiori dissolve into mud as the earth clone passed through the multiple rows of lightning.

The sound of clapping was heard from above before the mud even hit the ground once it came out the other side of the wall. Looking up, the five fighters saw Shiori sitting where the Hokage was previously seated. "I'm impressed. Though it was just a clone you three still managed to defeat it. It seems that I'll have to fight you all myself if I want to make sure that you don't cause any more problems in the future." Shiori stood from the seat, leapt down, and stood ready in front of the five. "Let us see just how powerful the shinobi of Konoha really are."

Shiori charged forward, running towards the Genin trio only to be intercepted by Ranma who stood directly in her path. "I'm your opponent, remember?"

Shiori stopped in her tracks, very much aware that attacking Ranma carelessly would lead only to disaster. "Don't forget about me." Satsuki appeared behind Shiori, ready to fight as well.

Ranma leapt towards Shiori, his fist cocked back while the other was ready to defend against any attacks she could try against him. He punched towards the ground once he was close enough letting loose a powerful battle cry as his fist impacted the solid earth. Not a second later, he hopped back, and leaned his head back, just barely avoiding Shiori's foot as it came flying in from the side in the form of a powerful roundhouse kick.

The red clad teen swiftly dropped to the ground and swept at Shiori's supporting leg with his own, just missing her as she hopped just enough to avoid the sweep. Satsuki came in with a flying kick only to be denied when Shiori, still in the air, grabbed her leg and threw her away almost effortlessly due to her small size. The auburn haired girl landed on her hands and flipped back once to get back on her feet before charging in once more.

Ranma's leg sweep was quickly followed up by a flip kick that narrowly missed Shiori's chin as she leaned her head back, reaching out with her right hand to stop Satsuki's punch before shoving her back forcefully with an open palm strike. "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire Fist!" Shiori's eyes narrowed upon seeing Ranma's arms blur with speed as he delivered near countless punches. Her own arms were a blur of movement as she easily kept up with Ranma's impressive display of speed, blocking and redirecting all of Ranma's punches.

At the end of Ranma's barrage, Shiori lunged forward with two glowing open palms, slashed at Ranma's legs with one and struck Ranma's solar plexus with the other, sending the teen flying back. Ranma rolled backwards along the ground before he pushed off the ground with his hands, flipped around in the air, and landed on his feet, looking unharmed for most part. But suddenly, he collapsed on the ground while clutching his midsection in pain.

"Ranma!" yelled his former team as they ran over to him.

"Being a woman does have its advantages," stated Shiori. "What we lack in strength we make up for in speed. And what we lack in Chakra capacity," she held up her still glowing hand, which Ranma and Kaname saw, both of them recognizing the technique immediately as Chakra scalpels. "We make up for with Chakra control. You shouldn't be too much of a problem now that I've cut the tendons on your legs. Now stay down and watch as I kill your friends."

While she was speaking, Satsuki took the opportunity to attack her while she was busy. Shiori spun around on her heel, intercepting Satsuki's initial attack before engaging her in unarmed combat. However, despite all the training she had done while in the village, Satsuki was still outmatched by her former superior. Within a few moments, Satsuki was thrown back against the nearby wall, sporting a few bruises on her face and arms.

"Did you honestly think you would stand a chance against me?" Shiori asked haughtily, looking quite smug as she literally looked down on Satsuki. "You're much slower than you used to be. Is your lack of Chakra more of a handicap than you expected?"

Satsuki struggled to stand, the pain from the numerous punches and kicks she received hurt more than she had expected. It didn't hurt as much as Ranma's punches, but the fact that her former superior hadn't stopped after the first few strikes made all the difference. "It doesn't matter. Kill me now if that's what you want. But I won't go back to being your puppet and neither will I be the weapon of the man who killed my father."

"Has the ideals of Konoha poisoned your mind that much?" asked Shiori. "You are a shinobi, you are nothing but a tool to be used; to be thrown away when it is no longer needed. And tools do not think, they simply do what their wielder wants them to do."

"Then I will wield myself. And in order to establish this fact, I must first eliminate my original wielder."

"Try and kill me if you wish. Without any Chakra you won't last long against me."

"In that case…" Shiori stifled a look of surprise from appearing on her face when Ranma suddenly appeared beside Satsuki, still clutching his abdomen with one arm with his legs folded underneath him. "I'll just give Satsuki her Chakra back." With one quick motion, Ranma unclasped the pendant and pulled it off Satsuki's neck.

Satsuki gasped out in surprise when she could no longer feel the familiar weight of the pendant around her neck. She reached up with a hand, touching her collar where the pendant used to be. "You… You took it off? But what about-"

"Forget about what Naruto-san might think," gasped out Ranma, still in pain from having his internal organs attacked directly. "I know you a lot better than he does. And I know that I can trust you enough to take this off. Besides, there's not enough time to just return your Chakra." Ranma groaned in pain and fell to the ground, struggling to keep himself from passing out but failing miserably. "I'm gonna… take a nap. Take care… of the three of them… for me…"

The last thing Ranma saw before his vision faded to black was the sight of three figures standing on top of the arena, and Satsuki running towards the Tsuchikage.

_END CHAPTER_

**And that's the end of this chapter. Though to be honest we don't feel as though we did a very good job on this chapter. It just didn't feel as though the story was flowing smoothly unlike the previous chapters. We'll probably be revising this chapter, just smoothing out a few things and fixing some here and there so please tell us what you think about this chapter. **

**The OCs you guys submitted will still be making appearances in the future as part of a few joint missions between Konoha, Suna and Kiri. **

**So please click on the 'GO' button at the bottom of the page and tell us what you think of this chapter. Like it? Hate it? Love it? Despise it? Comment? Suggestion? Flames? Criticisms? Any and all is welcome as nothing you say can discourage us, only motivate us to write better, if we can.**

**Until the next chapter then.**


	26. Arc 2 Chapter 16

Terms of Engagement

Terms of Engagement

By Overlord of Order and Overlord of Chaos

**SUMMARY: What if many of the on-goings involving Genma and Nodoka was all a hoax? What if most of what they've said was a lie? What reason could they have to lie to so many people? What does it have to do with Ranma's future?**

_Arc 2: Ninja Training_

_Chapter 16: Mirrors, Water, and Eyes_

A brown haired woman sat in her private quarters within Iwa and Kumo's underground fortress, her mind occupied by thoughts of the raven-haired teen who had dared to fight against her. She had to admit that he was certainly skilled in taijutsu. If not for her superior speed she was certain that she would have been defeated before she even had a change to switch to ninjutsu. But in the end it was not his fighting ability that intrigued her, nor was it the information she had learned from Satsuki at the end of the preliminaries. It was his message, one that he somehow managed to slip into her clothing sometime during their fight.

_Take care of Satsuki._

Who was he to ask her for such a thing? It was certainly a simple enough request, but to have the gall to say it outright angered her. It was clear to Shiori that Ranma had gotten more than a little attached to Satsuki, and the note was more than enough proof of that. Why else would he ask her to take care of a girl whom he knew was an Iwa kunoichi? Not just any kunoichi, but one who was second only to the Tsuchikage herself. Even without the seal on Satsuki, both of them knew that Shiori would be victorious regardless of how many times they fought.

But Ranma… he was definitely someone she would not take so lightly again. He sounded so confident in himself, arrogance she had thought to herself at that time, but after several bouts she soon discovered that he had the ability to back up his words. The question, was why? Why had he done what he did? It puzzled her to no end whenever she attempted to figure out his reason for his actions. It was not only his actions during their fight, but also his actions between the failed attack two months prior, and the failed invasion.

"Ranma Saotome," she whispered to herself, her mind occupied by the teenager who challenged her. It had been three days since the day they fought and she still could not understand the young man's reasoning. He had gone out of his way to save Satsuki, and did even more things to ensure that she was not treated as a prisoner but as a guest instead. He had, according to Satsuki's recollection of her stay in Konoha, done everything he could to make her stay as normal as possible. He kept her from being killed by the Hokage, gave her a place to stay, fed her, and even trained her. Such acts were things she expected from a man who had lost his child and saw his own child in another, not a teenager who was a newcomer to the shinobi lifestyle.

She huffed at the thought of a boy no more than eighteen years of age having a child of his own. It was not unheard of amongst shinobi to have a child at such a young age as many wanted to have someone to continue on their family name should they die, such as those who carry a bloodline or one who is the last of their family. But he had not been a shiobi until recently thus he would most likely not understand the need to produce an heir so soon.

At that moment a pang of longing shot through the Tsuchikage, her chest constricting all of a sudden, making it hard to breath for but a moment. Her gaze shifted downwards towards her desk where a low level Genjutsu hid something that was placed on her desk. Dispelling the illusion that hid the object Shiori gazed down sadly upon the framed photo that appeared. "Why?" she whispered into the air, the pain in her chest growing the longer her eyes remained focused on the object.

All of a sudden, she was shaken out of her reverie by the sound of metal hitting wood, which was soon followed by a voice. "Shiori-sama." Shiori's head shot up to look at the door, which had, thankfully, remained shut. Shaking her head to clear them of her thoughts, she reapplied the Genjutsu on the photograph just as the person on the other side of the door spoke once more. "Satsuki has regained consciousness and is requesting a private meeting with you."

"I see," replied the woman, reigning in her emotions before continuing. "Tell her that I will meet with her later today. Until then she is to rest."

"Understood."

Once Shiori was certain that the shinobi on the other side of the door was gone, she let out a relieved sigh. For a brief moment she had been worried that her voice still carried the heavy bout of emotion that had consumed her just prior to the shinobi's arrival. She looked down on her desk as she stood, resisting, the urge to dispel the illusion once more. Pushing back her emotions, Shiori stood and left her office.

She had a meeting with the Raikage regarding the attack and she had a clear idea as to what it was about. Despite being a copy of Orochimaru's past attempt, their invasion should not have been as unsuccessful as it had been. Iwa and Kumo suffered the loss of over one hundred and fifty shinobi while not a single Konoha-nin had been killed in the attack. All their plans had been thwarted seemingly effortlessly and nobody knew why. Shiori, and possibly the Raikage, knew that it could only mean one thing. A spy.

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"Wh… Where am I?"

"Ranma?"

Ranma opened his eyes slowly only to shut them again when the sudden intrusion of light was too much for his eyes to take after having been shut for two days. He slowly tried to open them again, succeeding enough to be able to see a pink blur. "Sakura-san?" he asked, being the only person he knew who had pink hair.

"You're awake," he heard her say, sighing in relief. "That's good. You should have woken up yesterday so I was worried when you didn't."

"Where am I?" he asked, repeating his earlier question as he blinked repeatedly, trying to get his vision to clear up.

"You're at the hospital," came the reply. "Kurenai's team brought you here after you passed out. Honestly, what were you thinking going up against the Tsuchikage like that?" she asked tiredly but with a hint of anger. "You may be able to take on Naruto, but Shiori Kouji is a completely different person."

"How? They're both Kage of their village right? I know she's different but it doesn't mean that she's that much stronger than him."

"I wouldn't exactly say that," she stated, sitting on the chair beside the bed. "Unlike Naruto, Shiori specializes in deception, and strategy. While Naruto isn't lacking in either areas, she is significantly better than he is in both areas. If you are like Naruto, who relies on instinct and on-the-spot planning, Shiori is like Shikamaru, who thinks of every possible move their opponent could make and readies a plan to execute for whatever their opponent would decide to do. If not for the power of the Nine-tailed fox Shiori would have beaten Naruto long ago just as easily as Shikamaru could beat him if he didn't use the power of the demon," she finished sternly.

"Shiori Kouji is a very dangerous woman," Sakura continued in a calmer tone. "It's no surprise she managed to hurt you but what came as a surprise is how badly she hurt you. It wasn't too fatal but if you had been brought in a few minutes later you'd have to be kept here longer than you have to be. Much longer."

"She hurt me that badly?" asked a surprised Ranma. He honestly didn't think the damage was that bad. Sure his insides were attacked but he didn't think it would be that bad.

Sakura nodded. "She managed to cut open a few internal organs. It wasn't too deep but it was enough to cause bleeding. Without an opening to flow out of, the blood just continued to gather until it slowly flooded your insides."

Ranma thought back to the fight at that moment, thinking back to when the Tsuchikage had attacked him with her Chakra scalpels. 'She blocked my attacks so easily and afterwards she slashed at my legs and hit me, cutting my insides open. Then afterwards…' his eyes suddenly grew hide as he shot up from the bed when he suddenly remembered something. "Satsuki!" he half yelled, half gasped, the latter due to the slight pain he felt from suddenly sitting up. "Sakura-san, where's Satsuki?" he gasped out through the pain. "Is she alright?"

Sakura flinched a bit upon hearing the name that left Ranma's lips, her head dropped noticeably and her eyes looked away. Once he saw this, Ranma immediately knew that something was wrong. "Sakura-san, what happened to Satsuki? Is she hurt? How bad is it?"

"Ranma I-"

Whatever Sakura was about to say was cut off when the door opened and four people walked in. One of those people was the Hokage. "I'll tell him," Naruto said seriously, walking over to the foot of Ranma's bed while the other three stood by the door.

Sakura moved closer to the bed, helping Ranma sit up by raising one end of the bed so that he could talk better to Naruto.

"Tell me something first," he stated, holding up a closed fist. "What is this?" Naruto opened his fist slightly, just enough to allow whatever he was holding to slide out before he closed his fist once more, catching the end of the chain attached to the object.

Ranma's eyes widened a bit, surprised to see that that particular object was in Naruto's possession before they narrowed ever so slightly. "It's a pendant."

"More specifically…" Naruto urged.

"Satsuki's pendant."

"Exactly. So why is it that I found it on the ground in the arena next to where you were lying unconscious _without_ its bearer?"

"I took it off her," came Ranma's monotonous reply.

Sakura shivered in her seat and grabbed her arms with the opposite hand. It wasn't because she was afraid or anything. It was because for some reason the temperature in the room seemed to lower all of a sudden. Behind her, the other three people shivered slightly as well.

"Why did you do that?" Naruto asked, seemingly not noticing the change in temperature in the room.

"What did you expect me to do? I couldn't fight someone like her without my legs and I was already starting to lose consciousness so I did the next best thing. If I couldn't fight, I'll just give someone the power to fight."

"And it didn't cross your mind to just unseal her Chakra instead of releasing her completely?" he asked seriously, anger slowly creeping into his voice.

"And why would I do that?" replied Ranma, his voice remaining steady but gaining an icy tone to it.

"Satsuki is a PRISONER!" Naruto yelled out, throwing the pendant down to the floor as his bloodlust filled the room, not that anyone seemed to be affected by it. "I gave you a direct order NOT to remove that pendant without my explicit permission. I thought we established that when I gave you the details of what she was allowed to do."

"Don't know if you've ever heard this but here's a little saying from where I come from even if it's not the same from place to place. Rules are meant to be broken, and broken rules were never meant to be made."

"So you're saying that there shouldn't be a law against stealing and killing?" Naruto asked heatedly, his eyes turning crimson and his pupils turning into slits.

"Having that as a law doesn't stop people from doing it, does it?" Ranma replied icily, narrowing his eyes at the Hokage as his own storm blue eyes seemed to glow. "Even if there wasn't a law against that, I'm sure that you would still try to stop those people even if they never broke a law."

"If that ever happens then all I can say is that I'm doing what I think is right."

"And that's exactly what I did," Ranma replied with a small, almost unseen, grin. "I simply did what I thought was right. How does that make me different from you if you would be willing to punish people who never broke a law simply because you thought what they were doing was wrong and what you were doing was right?"

Though Naruto knew he had fallen into Ranma's trap he wasn't about to give in just yet. He was the Hokage of Konoha. If he wanted to, he could punish any shinobi because he felt like it or he could let someone walk away without any punishment for their actions. But just because Ranma was special didn't mean that he would get any special treatment from him. Not even his friends would receive special treatment. "I wasn't the one who allowed a killer like Satsuki to run free."

"So you'd kill her for being a killer? Why not kill half the village then? All shinobi are killers aren't they? And at least half the population of this village is made up of shinobi with only a select few safe form being branded a killer."

"None of them ever killed my friends."

"Who exactly did she kill?" Ranma asked, his grin growing slightly wider and still unnoticed by the man in front of him due to his anger.

Naruto opened his mouth to retort when he remember that there were four other people in the room, four people who knew nothing about the fact that he had come back from the future, a future where many of his friends had been killed by one person. He shut his mouth and growled viciously at Ranma, who kept his composure throughout the entire exchange. He couldn't say anything right there, not without revealing anything he didn't really want to reveal.

Ranma, though, had other plans. "Don't forget why you, Happosai, Cologne, and everyone else did what you did when things seemed hopeless," he said, referring to their journey back to the past from their war-torn future. The others in the room, however, looked very confused. "You wanted to start over with a clean slate, to get a second chance that not many people get. You got what you wanted. And because of that you also gave others the same opportunity. They just don't realize that they've been given a second chance. So why do you treat them as though they've committed some kind of crime when they've done nothing? We all make mistakes and we can't always do things the right way the first time around. We're only human after all."

"Although," he added as an afterthought, "I don't think I can say the same for people who suddenly do something wrong when they've been doing it right for most of their lives. If you ask me that's just plain stupidity, don't you agree?"

Sakura, having witnessed more than a few of Ranma and Naruto's arguments, wasn't all that surprised that the two hadn't killed each other yet. Naruto, though he was the Hokage, would often start a fight if he got into an argument like this with other people. The fact that he hadn't stated a fight with Ranma yet was surprising. She assumed it was because he wasn't really a native of the village.

Two of the three people behind her, however, couldn't believe their ears. They had heard it clearly but they still didn't believe it. Someone had practically insulted the Hokage right in his face and yet Naruto just stood there and took it without saying anything in return. One of them was sorely tempted to look out the window to make sure that the world wasn't ending but with the situation the way it was he'd probably end up being the one who got killed for making a joke at a time like that.

The last person in the room just looked over the pink-haired woman sitting on the chair in front of her, seemingly ignoring the situation playing out before her. Though if someone looked closely they would have seen the surprise in her eyes as well.

Naruto growled again. Once again Ranma trapped him with words, something he was sure Ranma wouldn't have been able to do so well. Now he was definitely sure about one thing. There was more to Ranma than he originally thought. "Do you really think you'd get away with what you did?" he asked. "Don't forget that you're now a shinobi of this village. While you're here you answer to me. Disobeying a direct order from the Hokage is disobedience at best and treason at worst."

"So?" Ranma tossed back casually, maintaining the icy demeanor he was showing. "I'm not exactly a citizen of this village either. Technically I'd be more of a hired hand, a mercenary, rather than a member of your shinobi army. Besides, you need me here more than you care to admit. If I weren't here, your overconfidence would have led you to your death by Satsuki's hand during that first battle. Don't even try to deny it. It takes one to know one after all and I can easily admit that I used to be the cockiest person you'd ever meet."

The Hokage's hand twitched once, then twice, before closing into a fist completely, angered even more by Ranma's words. But what really angered him was the fact that Ranma had practically suggested that without him he would have died. It was probably true, even the fox within told him that he had gotten cocky, but that didn't mean that Ranma could just bring it up as though he himself had never made a mistake. "Used to be?" he scoffed. "I think you still are."

"Not anymore. That title belongs to the guys standing right in front of me," he replied, causing Naruto's anger to spike once more as the pressure from his bloodlust increased. "I started fixing my problem before I even came here. It's not completely fixed yet seeing as I've been using it for the past two years now but at least I can say I've made some progress. What about you? What have you done about it?"

"We're not here to discuss me," Naruto growled out through gritted teeth.

"You're the one who wanted to kill a child for something she hasn't done _yet_," Ranma stated firmly, emphasizing his last word, causing Naruto to flinch a little, which had gone unseen by everyone in the room. "So she's an enemy shinobi, so what? Why do you want to kill her so badly for that single reason? If you wanna kill enemy shinobi why not just slaughter the Iwa and Kumo-nins the next time they attack. They're enemy shinobi too aren't they? And you're certainly strong enough to do it."

"So she's a threat to the village. Again, so what? The other Iwa and Kumo-nins are also threats. If you want to be paranoid about it then why not kill me or maybe even your own shinobi and allies? After all, for all you know you're the only person who actually wants to protect this village."

"So she knows a few things about how the ninjas of this village operates, who cares. The Hyuuga are so famous any descent shinobi knows how they fight. The same goes for you and every other well-known shinobi out there. If you want to kill her for knowing a few village secrets, why not kill your own shinobi then? They know more about this village than she does. And you certainly can't read minds, can you? So how do you know that they're completely loyal to you?"

"I trust them just as they trust me."

"So how is that different from me placing my trust in Satsuki?"

"Do you even know what happened to her?" Without giving Ranma a chance to answer he continued. "Right after you took off the pendant she returned to the Tsuchikage's side." If this surprised Ranma he didn't show it, and even Naruto was impressed by how well he was hiding his real reaction, not that he showed it either. "And that's not all. Right after that, she and Shiori attacked those three Genin you were with."

Ranma didn't immediately reply to that statement and those who looked at him could see that he was waiting for something. After a few tense moments, he seemed to grin. "Seeing as you didn't say they were severely injured or dead, I'm guessing someone got in their way before they even got to them."

"You're pretty perceptive aren't you?" came a new voice. Ranma turned his head towards the door and saw the other three who had come in with Naruto. The one who spoke was the only male of the group. He was an old man, with white hair and two red marks running down his cheek from just below his eyes, which, Ranma noted, had a scar running across them. "But just to confirm your suspicion, yes, they're fine. The three of us were watching your fight so we were able to intervene before anything happened."

"Not to be rude but, who are you?" Ranma asked, his icy demeanor warming up slightly but returned for a brief moment when he turned to return a glare at Naruto.

"This is Naruto's sensei, Jiraiya of the Sannin," Sakura replied, introducing the man behind her before moving on to the other two. "This is Shizune, Tsunade's former assistant and one of my teachers in the medical arts. Beside her is Chika, the daughter of Jiraiya and Tsunade."

Ranma briefly looked over the other two newcomers. Shizune was an old woman, though much younger than Jiraiya was, with short graying hair. Chika was much younger than the other two, probably no more than four or five years his senior. The first thing he noticed about her was her height. She towered over everybody else in the room, standing a few inches taller than even Naruto. The second thing he noticed were her breasts, how could he not after all. They were certainly much larger than his female form's but the fact that she was much taller as well made it seem more natural on her body instead of looking oversized. She had silvery blonde hair falling down to mid-back tied in a ponytail.

Chika, Ranma noted, only briefly met his eyes and gave a short nod before lowering her line of sight once more and a strange glint appeared in her eyes. Following her line of sight as best as he could he found that the target of her attention happened to be Sakura, who seemed oblivious to the young woman's stare.

"I don't mean to be rude as well but what are you doing here sensei?" Naruto asked, turning his gaze over to the blind man.

"What's this?" Jiraiya asked in mock surprise. "You finally call me sensei and I'm not even your sensei anymore. I should have stopped teaching you long ago. Maybe then you would have showed me this much respect at the very least." Jiraiya let out a short burst of laughter before sobering up. "Still, is that any way to greet your sensei after so long? I spend all that trouble to come all the way here and you don't even greet me properly. Maybe I should have left as soon as the battle was over. The only reason I came was because Gaara asked me to anyway."

"Gaara? Gaara asked you to come?" Naruto asked in surprise, his anger at Ranma dissipating almost instantly. "Why did he do that?"

"He said he wanted me to see something and I have to say, what I saw definitely impressed me even if I didn't really see anything."

"How did he even know how to contact you?" asked the blonde Hokage, seemingly more concerned about how his friend, the Kazekage, managed to contact someone even he couldn't find than what it was Gaara had wanted the white-haired man to see. "Our own spy network couldn't even find you."

"He didn't contact us or even find us," replied Shizune. "It was more like I saw the people he sent to look for us. I was wondering what they were doing so far from Suna so I approached them. After all, it's not like we're really hiding from Konoha or Suna. None of your searches just turned up successful."

"He sent a search party to look for you just so he could show you something?" he asked in disbelief, wondering what Gaara had told Jiraiya to get him to come to Konoha after so long.

"Of course not, don't be ridiculous. Of course he also asked me not to say anything else about that matter even if it is you. Said he wanted to keep the number of people down to six to lower the chances of someone else finding out."

Naruto just nodded, understanding the need for secrecy to the point that two people who completely trusted each other couldn't share their secrets. Turning back to face the teen lying on the bed he said, "Report to my office once you're released. You'll find out what your punishment will be for disobeying a direct order." With that, Naruto left, bidding the other people in the room farewell.

Silence permeated the room as soon as the door was shut. Everyone could feel the tension that Naruto's final words created in the room. It was Sakura who finally broke the silence. "Ranma…"

Ranma's only reply was to sigh heavily before he turned to face Sakura. "Could you… hand me the pendant?" he asked slowly, his icy demeanor gone, replaced by one filled with melancholy.

"Of course," Sakura replied with a bitter smile, walking over to where the pendant landed after Naruto threw it down to the ground. She picked it up and looked it over, surprised to find that there wasn't a single scratch on it despite the strength Naruto used to throw it to the floor. In fact, Sakura noticed that the floor tile was cracked right where the pendant struck it. She walked back to the bedside and placed it in Ranma's waiting hand. "Here you go."

"Thanks." He held the pendant in front of him, gazing down at the silver wings attached to the chain. "So," he began slowly as though unsure of what to say next. "Satsuki… really left, huh?"

"She did," Sakura replied almost just as unsurely. "From what I heard, after Jiraiya-sama, Shizune, and Chika-chan got in the way when she and the Tsuchikage were about to attack Misami, Fujitaka and Kaname, Naruto returned with Gaara, having pushed back the combined armies of Iwa and Kumo. Realizing that they had lost, they retreated. Naruto sent several hunter-nin after them but their bodies were found yesterday near the border."

"I see," he replied sadly, letting out a heavy sigh. He knew that Satsuki would take the first chance to run, that much he knew. While he had hoped that she would find life in Konoha better than in Iwa he was under no illusion that she would stay, not while the man she wanted to kill was the leader of the very same village. He sighed again, closing his fist tightly around the silver pendant. "For the first time that I can remember, it was wrong."

"Huh?" Sakura and the others were confused by that statement. He didn't say that he was wrong. He said that _it_ was wrong. But, what was _it_?

"I've always trusted my instincts. Whether or not it was in a fight, my instincts always spoke to me, warning me of things or even telling me which choice to make. Thinking was never my strong point so I often relied on my instincts, even though sometimes I tend to ignore it," he said, speaking in soft and melancholic tones. "When I thought about taking off her pendant I wondered if it was the right thing to do, if taking it off would make things better or worse. My instincts told me that things would be better if I took it off, so I did. I took it off without a second thought. Obviously I was wrong. If it hadn't been for you three," he said, looking up to the three standing by the door. "I'd have the death of three Genin on my hands."

Jiraiya turned to look at his two companions who both looked to him and nodded as though to confirm something. "Kid," he began, turning back to face Ranma. "You made the right decision."

"What are you talking about? You were there. If you hadn't stepped in then Misami, Fujitaka and Kaname would have been killed. And it would have been my fault for letting Satsuki go just like that. She pretended to side with me, most likely to earn my trust so that I'd take off the pendant sooner or later. I knew what she was doing yet the one time I had a logical reason not to do something, I still do it, trusting my instincts instead. So how can you say that I made the right decision?"

"You said it yourself, I was there," replied the blind man. "I may be blind but I've learned to see without my eyes. Satsuki never attacked the Genin, the Tsuchikage did."

"What difference does that make?" Ranma asked, speaking as someone who had lost all hope for something. "If Satsuki was still wearing the pendant she would have fought against the Tsuchikage just to keep the three of them alive so that she could earn mine and Naruto-san's trust."

"And here I thought you were perceptive," Jiraiya muttered too lowly for Ranma to hear. "I never said that she just let the Tsuchikage attack those three. She tried her best to convince her that killing those three wasn't worth it, that if she wanted to destroy the village then she should focus on that before Naruto could turn the tides of the battle, not that Konoha was even losing in the first place."

"In the end she couldn't convince the Tsuchikage, who wanted to kill them to show you that you weren't as strong as you thought you were. She didn't try to get in the way, but she didn't help her either. She just stood there and watched as the Tsuchikage attacked."

"And that's when you stepped in?"

"That's when we stepped in," Jiraiya replied along with a nod. "To be honest I didn't think we could have beat her but the time the girl spent trying to convince the Tsuchikage was just long enough that Naruto and the other Konoha shinobi arrived just moments after we stepped in. Seeing us there, standing between the three Genin and the two Iwa-nin, he drew his own conclusion about what happened after he left the arena."

"I see," Ranma replied with a relieved sigh, feeling like a heavy weight had been taken off his shoulders. "At least I know now that I made the right choice."

"How can it be considered the right choice?" asked Shizune. "I'm not questioning your decision, rather I'm questioning whether the result was worth it. You released her and now Iwa has one of their most powerful shinobi back within their ranks. I don't see anything good about it."

"It's not about whether or not it was good for the war, Shizune." It was Sakura who replied in Ranma's stead. "Before she became a… guest of Konoha, Satsuki killed everyone in her way regardless of who it was. During the first battle, we lost nearly thirty Jounin and Chuunin who attempted to help Naruto in his fight against Satsuki. Ranma's reason for asking Naruto to spare Satsuki's life wasn't so that Satsuki would eventually defect to our side. He did it to keep a promise he made to himself. The fact that Satsuki chose not to kill those three Genin meant that Ranma has been able to keep his promise up until this point."

"That," Chika began, walking closer to the bed. "Or she wants to do it herself while he watches." Everyone turned to her with questioning looks, wondering where that line of reasoning had come from. "She may be as you say she is, but what if she felt humiliated by Ranma-san? Surely you can't say for certain that something like that isn't possible. The fact that he is the main reason for her situation is sure to be a cause for humiliation on her part. Perhaps Ranma-san's actions pushed her too far and she decided that instead of outright killing him, she would cause him to suffer just as he did to her."

At the end of her speech, Chika found herself on the receiving end of four disbelieving stares. "What?" She asked, looking at each of the four faces one by one.

"It's just… I expected something like that to come from Jiraiya-sama instead of you," replied Sakura, still slightly disbelieving of what she had just heard.

"Well, I can't help it if I sound old," Chika complained. "I mean, I'm living with two mummies after all. Something like that is bound to happen sooner or later."

As soon as the last word left her lips, Chika's head suddenly snapped forward as her hands went to the back of her head. "Brat," both Jiraiya and Shizune stated in chorus, their arms still in position after striking the back of Chika's head with their fists.

"Think what you will, but I still think it was Ranma's influence," stated Sakura, who winced in sympathy for the young woman and earned a grateful look from Ranma. "She, just like us, is still human. One can only stand for so long before the winds of change finally blow them away."

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Two months. It had been two long months since the fateful day that she fought the Tsuchikage. Ranma-chan looked down on the village with a melancholic look on her face, clutching a green vest in one hand while the other spun a familiar pendant around with a finger. She was currently sitting atop the mountain where the faces of Konoha's leaders were carved, to forever be remembered by the village whenever they looked up towards the mountain.

The memory of what happened in the hospital after she woke up was still very clear in her mind, almost as though it had happened just recently. She was glad that the memory was still fresh in her mind for there was still one question that was left unanswered from that time, one question that she kept to herself to try and answer. Why? Why had she said those things to Naruto?

She repeated the event in her mind again and again, word for word, and yet she could not understand why she said such things. And more importantly, where did those words come from? From the moment Naruto showed her the pendant, she felt something shift within her. It felt like one of the many schemes from the Amazons in the past. It was like her consciousness was suddenly pushed aside within her own mind to make way for another; like she was pushed out of the driver's seat of her own mind and another had taken her place at the wheel.

The words, however, were hers. They were not the exact words or statements she would have said had she been in completely control of her actions but they were close enough that her point was delivered, though more than a little harsh in the way it was delivered.

That was not the only thing that had been bothering her the past two months. Since the day she fought the Tsuchikage, she had been having strange dreams. It wasn't dreams about demons or the war with them, but it was strange in a way that there was absolutely nothing in them. She always found herself in complete darkness in those dreams. No matter how far she ran, how long she waited, how loud she yelled, or what she did, nothing changed.

It remained that way for what seemed like an eternity. It was only at the very end of her dream that something would change. Just before she wakes up, she would hear a voice calling out her name and saying something to her. It was the exact same dream nearly every night for the past two months and it was driving her crazy not being able to understand it one bit. She tried to forget about it but with every night that passed, she found herself trying harder and harder to figure out what the dream meant.

Ranma-chan's punishment was lighter than he thought, possibly because of what he'd said to Naruto or because of Hinata's own conversation with her husband. From what she heard from Sakura during their weekly training night Hinata had spoken to the Hokage regarding the event at the hospital. Apparently Hinata had seen Naruto walking towards his room and decided to spy on the conversation with her Byakugan, witnessing the entire conversation by reading lips.

Whether one of them had gotten through to the Hokage or because it was Naruto's own decision, Ranma-chan would have to do a number D-rank missions without pay before she would be allowed to continue doing regular missions. Also, the martial artist wasn't allowed to use clones of any kind nor was she allowed to get help from others. Ranma-chan didn't complain when she heard this. It was the opposite in fact, she was grateful, somewhat. Doing D-rank missions meant that she would be able to think about the dreams even while doing chores that the villagers either had no time to do or were too lazy to do on their own.

But just last week she had to tell Hinata, who had been the one to go over her mission report for the last D-rank mission she was required to do, that she wouldn't be able to do any missions for an indefinite period of time. Hinata just nodded and told Ranma that she'll keep it in mind. "If you ever want to talk," she added as Ranma was walking away. "You're always welcome to talk to me. I'm sure Sakura wouldn't mind too."

She never took them up on their offer. How could she? They assumed that the problem had something to do with Satsuki. How wrong they were. The fact that Satsuki had tried to stop the Tsuchikage from attacking the three Genin was more than enough to put Ranma at ease. The problem had nothing to do with Satsuki and everything to do with the strange dreams she'd been having the past two months.

She had done nothing but train all week, training until she couldn't anymore before she went to sleep only to wake up a few hours later, fully rested and recovered, to continue her training regardless of what time it was. While training usually helped her think clearer, it wasn't enough to understand the dream. Put simply, the dream was too vague. With only two things clear to her, the eternal darkness and the voice calling her name, it could mean a number of things. But none of her theories sounded right to her.

She looked at the green vest in her hand, wondering for the third time that day if she really did deserve the title of Chuunin, or rather, did she want the title? Could she really bring herself to lead a group of shinobi on missions? The answer was yes. But could she do it knowing they would have to kill someone? The answer to that, was no. She knew, although nobody ever told her anything about it, that their targets weren't always criminals in one form or another.

One time at school, when someone came to their school to speak to them about things such as drugs, street gangs and such, she learned that two opposing factions would sometimes kill people from another faction, often times a neutral one. This was so that they would frame their enemies so that they would gain an ally, or at the very least cause problems more for their enemies. It was something the man had told them to discourage them from joining gangs, even those that weren't already involved in the gang war.

Being shinobi and all that, she wouldn't be surprised if it held true here as well. In fact, she expected something like that to happen. Despite how different Konoha seems to be compared to what she heard about other villages, she knew that it had its own dark side and she wouldn't be surprised if they sometimes killed innocents as well. Just as Konoha had its own darkness, she was sure that other villages weren't as bad as people made them out to be. Sometimes you just need to experience things from a different perspective.

Without light there would only be darkness, but without light there would be no darkness. That was what the voice told her at the end of her dreams. It made sense yet didn't, a paradox. If there was no light, then there would only be darkness. Yet without a light shining down on something to produce a shadow, darkness couldn't exist. Both statements made sense yet putting them both together in the same statement seems to take away all sense.

Ranma-chan sighed once more, this time though it sounded weary. "Don't," she began firmly. "Even try."

The figure that had been slowly sneaking up behind her deflated at being discovered but perked up again and sat down beside the redhead, wrapping an arm around the shoulders of the shorter redhead. "Why is it that I can never sneak up on you? I mean, I've masked my Chakra to match the surrounding environment, I know that I haven't made a single noise the entire time and I even made sure to mask my scent. How can you detect me so easily?"

Ranma-chan chuckled, feeling slightly better now compared to just a few seconds ago. "You're not masking everything completely," she replied.

"That's what you say every time you catch me sneaking up on you." It was true. Ranma-chan had said the same thing again and again and yet, never gave any hint as to what she was referring to. "Come on Ranma-chan, you can trust me right?"

"I want trust you Chika-san, but how can I when you keep trying to grope me even after you said you wouldn't?" Ranma-chan asked, fending off another attempt from the taller woman to grope her breasts. "Besides, even if I told you what you need to mask you'd need years of training to even be capable of manipulating it."

"Come on Ranma-chan, just one touch? I'll even let you touch mine in return," she offered enticingly, leaning closer and rubbing the side of her sizeable assets on the side of Ranma-chan's face, causing the redhead to blush deeply and lean away slightly only to be pulled back by Chika's arm. "And how many time have I told you to call me Chika-chan?"

"And how many times have I asked you not to grope me?" Ranma-chan asked in return, trying not to let the fact that Chika's large breasts were rubbing against the side of her face distract her too much.

Ever since Chika had discovered Ranma's female form a week after they first met, she had been trying her best to grope the short redhead or see her naked. Every attempt was easily thwarted, sometimes by mere coincidence or bad luck on Chika's part, and Chika was slowly growing frustrated at not being able to succeed, not that she showed it.

For some reason unknown to Ranma, Jiraiya, Shizune and Chika and decided to stay in the village for an indefinite period of time. Whether or not it had something to do with the war she couldn't say for sure. She enjoyed their company, whenever they crossed paths, but Chika's attempts were beginning to get annoying. It was like Furinkan all over again where the boys, and a few girls, would try anything to douse her with cold water, and then either grope her or see her naked. Only this time she couldn't threaten to beat her up seeing as Chika was a very capable fighter, something she learned during a sparring match against the taller woman.

"So," Chika began, releasing Ranma-chan's shoulders and sitting up straight, something that caused Ranma-chan to sigh in relief. "What's bothering you? Don't tell me you're still beating yourself up over what happened two months ago."

Ranma-chan sighed again, this time it was a heavy one. "I stopped blaming myself for that the moment I learned that she tried to stop the Tsuchikage from attacking Kaname, Misami and Fujitaka," she answered, still looking very depressed about something. "No, I'm just wondering if I'm really ready to be a Chuunin."

"Why? If you were promoted doesn't that mean that the Hokage as well as the other village leaders and council members think you're ready?" asked Chika, looking down on the smaller redhead. "Besides, I thought you'd be excited about it. I mean, everyone else wants to be a Chuunin."

"Yeah well, I didn't really think about everything that came with the title," Ranma-chan replied sadly, tossing the Chuunin vest to the daughter of two of the Legendary Sannin. "When Naruto-san told me that I might be leading other shinobi on high ranking missions, that's when I started thinking about it."

"About what?"

"I'm a foreigner, if you didn't already know, and I come from a place where shinobi are a thing of the past," she explained, sticking to the story that they had made up for her before traveling to this world. "Where I come from, there's no need for shinobi. Sure the countries still have their own military but it's not like people can just walk up to them and pay them to do something."

"Sounds like a peaceful place."

"Peaceful? Maybe, but we've had our own share of wars," she stated sadly. "The reason we don't have any shinobi is that the weapons they've developed do all the work for the military. Some of the weapons they use make even the strongest shinobi seem weak and useless. In fact, the weapons are so easy to use that even an ordinary civilian, or even a child, could be taught to use one. And unlike a kunai, all you had to do was point the other end of the weapon and you could kill someone just by shooting."

"So? That doesn't seem so dangerous. Just move out of the way then."

"Sure, you could do that but that's not the worst. Tell me something, how many people do you think the most powerful explosive could kill?"

"The most powerful explosive?" Chika was slightly confused by the question but answered nonetheless. "Well, Jiraiya-sensei told me that with the right combination of seals it was possible to create an explosive note or an explosive seal that could destroy an entire hidden village. Of course, the problem would be the size of the paper used to write the seals on or where you would write the seal without anything getting in the way. So I guess it would depend on how big it would be or how good the person making the seal is."

"Do you think it could kill tens of thousands of people all at once?" Ranma-chan asked, a blank look appearing in her eyes as she relayed that statement. "That's how powerful one of our bombs back home were. And if you survived the blast, you'd probably die from the burns, the radiation or something related to the bomb. One bomb killed a total of over a hundred thousand people, many of them dying from the aftereffects days, months, even years later," she said, causing Chika to turn deathly pale at the thought. But the next statement caused her to pale even further, if that was even possible. "And that was fifty years ago. I don't know how much they've changed but I'm sure they're more powerful now. Can you really call a world like that peaceful?"

"My God," Chika gasped out, unable to believe what she was hearing. "But… what does this have to do with you being a Chuunin?"

"When Naruto-san told me everything that would be expected of me as a Chuunin, I started to wonder. I've heard stories back home talk about how one street gang would attack another gang and place the blame on their enemy. If they did that then they might gain an ally in their fight. Even if they don't it means another enemy for their enemy to worry about."

"Well, that is strategy after all. I can't really say there's something wrong with that."

"But what if you're asked to kill innocents?" she asked, making Chika go silent. "That's what made it so effective. Instead of attacking another gang directly they sometimes attacked people who were related or close to members of that gang because they were easier targets. Even if there were only two gangs, they'd end up attacking people close to those in the opposing gang if they can't attack the other gang directly."

"I think I get where this is going," stated Chika. "You're afraid that you'd end up having to lead an assassination on an innocent, right?" Ranma-chan's silence was all she needed to confirm her suspicion. "In that case, you're going to have to toughen up. I mean, I'm sure you knew you'd have to do something like that sooner or later. The Hokage did make it mandatory for everyone attending the academy to know what they were getting into. Even if you did come from another country, I'm sure you would have had to go to the academy like everyone else."

"The academy?" Ranma-chan repeated in a slightly mocking tone. "I never went to the academy. I only arrived here five months ago."

"What?" Chika gasped in surprise. "Wait, how's that possible? You wouldn't have been able to use Chakra then."

"Let's just say that my training before coming here kept my Chakra coils developed enough so that I could learn to use Chakra," Ranma-chan cut in before Chika could go on about why she shouldn't have been able to use Chakra. "Besides," she continued, looking downcast once more. "It's not like I was given a choice. Naruto-san practically forced me to be a shinobi. Sure I was willing to help fight in the war, but it's not like I want to be a real shinobi. For as long as I can remember I've been training to become the best martial artist there is."

"Martial artist?"

"Think of us as taijutsu practitioners," she replied, remembering the equivalence of a martial artist in this world. "The difference is in how we use it. As a martial artist I'm sworn to never use my skills unless I'm protecting someone or if someone starts the fight."

"So you can't start the fight?"

Ranma-chan shook her head. "I've always fought to protect others or myself but I'd try not to fight if I could. Problem is, trouble always seems to find me wherever I go. I've also sworn to never use my skills to kill."

"So you're saying you've never killed before?"

"…Once," she replied very hesitantly. "Even then I didn't do anything that could have killed him until the very last moment. It took me a while to realize what I've done. I was just so happy that Akane wasn't killed that I didn't even realize what I've done until a few days later."

"So you killed someone who wanted to kill your friend? That's not as bad as you make it sound. At least you had a good reason."

"A good reason?" Ranma-chan let out a bitter laugh, looking down sadly at the village with an equally melancholic smile. "One of the first things that came to my mind when I realized what I'd done was that he wasn't even trying to kill her. When I thought about everything with a clear mind I realized that he wasn't doing anything wrong. They'd just gone about things the wrong way when they tried to forcefully take a map they needed from the owner. From there, my friends and I just got caught up in everything."

"My friends are like me, you know," she stated, gesturing to her obviously female body. "Of course, I'm the lucky one. I'm the one who stays human while they turn into animals instead. At that time we hated this. We hated the fact that we changed with cold water; changed into something we're not. We all had our reasons for hating our other forms, although I think pops liked turning into a panda. And just because what the guy wanted to do would have taken away the only thing that could cure us, we choose to fight."

"All he was doing was going through the same tradition that all of the previous leaders of his people went through. And by going through with it, he was able to provide his people with what they needed. But because I chose the restoration of my manhood first, we ended up fighting. Nothing good came out of it in the end. Their leader was gone, Akane nearly got killed, and our only chance to restore ourselves was gone for good."

"So let me get this straight, they went about their task the wrong way but you also didn't bother to find out what exactly they were doing," Chika began, giving a quick summary of what she understood. "So in the end both parties simply got in each other's way because they refused to listen to the other?"

Ranma-chan's face fell upon hearing Chika's summary of event. "That's pretty much what happened," she deadpanned with her head held low. The way she said it made it sound even worse that it actually was. Then again, maybe Ranma-chan simply didn't want to admit that it was as bad as Chika made it sound.

That didn't change the fact that it was true though. Just as Ranma and company tried to stop Saffron because they wanted to be cured, Saffron and his group had assumed that Ranma and company were trying to stop them from completing their task, which was correct in a way. If they had simply thought it out more, perhaps both sides could have come to a compromise. Both parties could have talked it out, if both sides were actually willing to listen, and get what they wanted. The cursed group of martial artists would get the cure and seeing as they had no more business there, they would have left Saffron alone to complete his own task unhindered.

The simple fact that nobody had been willing to negotiate due to the circumstances simply meant that they had allowed their pride to come before logic. One side didn't want to admit that they had failed to protect the map while the other didn't want to admit that they were bested in combat. One side wanted to stop the other so that they could get a cure to their curses while the other wanted to stop the other from stopping them. Both parties were at fault, seemingly equal in fault. Yet Ranma-chan felt as though she and her companions were more at fault once she thought about it after the failed wedding, especially after she remembered the reason behind Kiima's mission and Saffron's desire to transform.

"Jusenkyo might be known as a cursed place to those who know of its existence," Cologne once told her roughly three months after the failed wedding when she overheard Ranma complaining about how he was cursed to spend half of te rest of his life as a girl. "But the true nature of the valley and the springs is to act as a mirror to those who receive their curse. It's true that it is a curse to those who have just received their new form but not to all. Each spring attracts different kinds of people and every individual who has fallen into the same spring are one of two things. They are either similar to the curse they receive, or they are the complete opposite."

_FLASHBACK_

"As I have said, the springs are like mirrors to those who fall into them," Cologne continued to explain once they had returned to the Nekohanten. The pair were inside the empty restaurant, which was closed while Shampoo and Mousse had temporarily returned to the Amazon village to answer a summons from the other village elders. "Just as a mirror reflects whoever looks into them, the mirror image would raise its left hand if the onlooker were to raise their right. And like a mirror, a man who falls in the Spring of Drowned Girl is either a man who in more of a female soul trapped in a man's body, or is like you, someone who has not seen the true nature of what it means to be female or lacks femininity."

"So pops is a panda more or less because he's lazy?" he asked the Amazon elder, leaning against the wall close to the door. "I can also understand Ryoga a bit as he is like a pig in more ways than one. But what about Mousse, Shampoo and Taro?"

"Shampoo's curse is a reflection of only a part of her. You see cats as something to be feared, or perhaps something of extreme dislike with regards to Shampoo herself. But it is not Shampoo that you dislike but rather what she represents. You were brought up with the mentality that females are inferior to males, something that is the complete opposite in our village. To live in a society where simply being male marks you as inferior regardless of your strength, it is something that you would dislike or perhaps even subconsciously fear."

"Mousse and Taro are slightly harder to explain," she said but after a moment of contemplation, chose to explain. "You see fate, more often than not, dictates what happens in a person's life," Cologne began, holding up a finger to stop an anticipated interruption from the pigtailed teen. "Fate is real Ranma, whether you believe this or not. However, not everything is decided by fate. There are two things found in a person's aura that they cannot control regardless of how much training they receive. That is chaos and order."

"Both are self-explanatory but I'll explain just to be certain that you understand. A person's aura has both but one is often dominant over the other and is very rarely balanced. This dictates how much control fate has over a person's life. Chaos, as it implies, will bring about changes in a person's life that was not planned out just as order will ensure that things go the way it was planned. But it does not just apply to the person the aura belongs to. A person whose aura is more aligned with chaos than it is order can sometimes affect the fate of another person and vice versa. A chaos oriented person could potentially disrupt another person's fate just as an order oriented person can potentially keep another person's fate from deviating from its path."

"You, without a doubt, are aligned with chaos," she had said, not even bothering to hide her amusement. "Your aura had affected Shampoo in a way that her curse had reflected a part of you as well as Shampoo instead of just Shampoo alone. Since you had not had any contact with Mousse at that time," Cologne continued, not allowing the teen to ask the question that Cologne knew was coming. "His curse has no relation to you but rather to Shampoo. Just as you dislike or fear what Shampoo represents in more ways than one, Mousse's curse is a reflection of what he is to Shampoo. A duck is quite useful whether as food for a meal, breeding stock for future use, or some other reason. And the noise that leaves their beaks are interesting the first time someone hears it but listening to it too often will make it an annoyance."

"As for the pantyhose boy…" Cologne paused to think right there. Ranma leaned forward expectantly, wondering why Taro had gotten such a monstrous form. "I cannot say," she finally replied, causing her lone audience to fall to the floor. "I don't know him as well as the rest of you so I can't make an accurate comparison. It may even be possible that the simple reason for his curse is that fate had chosen him to be one of your many obstacles. No one can truly say for certain what is fate and what is caused by chaos."

_END FLASHBACK _

Back then she couldn't stand the thought of staying cursed for the rest of her life but eventually, with help from her mother, she had come to accept her condition. Of course, the path to acceptance wasn't as smooth as it was with others. One bump in the road was clothing. Nodoka, by stating her intent as a challenge, had gotten Ranma to spend three entire months as a female. During those three months Ranma had to wear female clothing and only female clothing.

Getting Ranma-chan to wear some articles of female clothing was easier than others, specifically those that were similar to what a male would wear. Those in the area of dresses and skirts were harder but she managed to get Ranma-chan to wear them. It was during the final two weeks that Ranma-chan actually fought back.

For those last two weeks the Saotome and the Tendo families had gone on a trip to the beach. It was at that time that Nodoka had gotten Nabiki to help her pick out a few things for Ranma-chan. Those things included, one-piece and two-piece bikinis for the beach, a few skimpy outfits – some only revealing her shoulders, midriff and or her knees down while others made Ranma-chan wonder if they were even considered clothes – and of course, underwear.

Though if she were to speak out loud she would have wondered what happened to the real Nodoka. Given the woman's traditional outlook on life Ranma-chan was surprised that it was her idea to look for those skimpy outfits for Ranma-chan.

Ranma-chan shook her head clear of the memories of her last weeks of 'girl training', as she'd called it then, and focused on the conversation she and Chika were having before her mind had started to wander. "Anyway, now you know why I'm wondering if I'm ready for this."

Chika paused to think for a moment, mulling over Ranma-chan's words. Hearing what had been said put a lot of things into perspective for her, such as why Ranma-chan was hesitant about accepting her duties as a Chuunin. The way she was brought up was contradictory to how a shinobi was raised. Instead of being taught how to take lives, she was taught to save them. And yet there she was, holding a Chuunin vest in one hand as she gazed down upon the village as though she were a true shinobi, silently watching over that which she was sworn to protect.

So then, why was she still here? Chika had to ask herself. It was clear that Ranma-chan was out of place amongst the shinobi, and she was certainly nowhere near being a normal person like the civilians. So what was it that kept her tied to the village? 'Satsuki?' she thought, her mind immediately turning to the young kunoichi. But she soon stomped that thought down almost as quickly as it appeared. There was a gap of one month between Ranma-chan's arrival in the village and her first meeting with the girl, long enough for her to decide whether the life of a shinobi was right for her. Whatever the reason was it must be important to the redhead if the thought of going against her belief of not killing was not enough to cause her to flee.

Just then a shinobi wearing a tiger mask appeared behind the pair, and spoke. "Saotome-san, you've been summoned by the Hokage for a mission. He expects you to be in his office in fifteen minutes."

A nod was all Ranma-chan gave to show that she had heard the ANBU's statement before he disappeared, leaving the pair alone once more. "What do you think he wants you for?" asked Chika, standing as Ranma-chan did.

"Don't know," came the reply as she reluctantly put on her Chuunin vest. "Just hope I don't have to kill someone."

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Flesh meeting flesh, a crack, a loud snap, and a heavy thud. Quick footsteps, steel being drawn from its confines, metal piercing flesh, a splatter of blood, and another heavy thud. An explosion, loud yells and screams, and more thuds. Again and again, one of three sets of sounds would resonate throughout the room area for everyone to hear. The room was quite large; large enough to hold roughly fifty people with more than enough room for a fight much like the one currently going on.

A lone figure wearing the ANBU uniform of Iwa stood in the middle of the room, surrounded by a little less than thirty shinobi bearing the mark of Konoha, the Village Hidden within the Leaves. A closer look revealed that the shinobi was none other than Satsuki,

The fight, if it could be called that, resumed when another handful of shinobi charged the lone figure only to be cut down in two seconds by the pair of ninjato in the figure's hands. With every man that fell by the lone fighter's hand the remaining shinobi felt the urge to run, knowing that they were clearly outmatched but stayed, not wanting to fail their leader. For now their mission was to ensure the evacuation of the civilians they had been housing until they could send them to Konoha with an escort.

All the Konoha shinobi knew that their Hokage would have wanted them all to live, and that he would bring them back to life only so he could kill them himself if they died. But there was no helping it at the moment. The twenty remaining shinobi were all that stood between the intruder and those being evacuated. They knew that not even the Tsuchikage would kill innocent civilians, but that wasn't the reason for the attack.

Two of their many spies in Iwa and Kumo's combined army had been discovered and had taken refuge at one of Konoha's camps, one that was situated in the land between Konoha and Suna. They had forgone their usual clothing and had dressed up as civilians, even going so far as to apply Chakra suppressing seals on themselves to better blend in with the civilians. But now it would seem that their escape would cost them one of Konoha's camps as well as nearly fifty of their shinobi.

Four more dashed away from the group to attack the intruder only to have half of them cut down by the blades while one other had his neck snapped and the last one burned by a powerful fire technique. The young girl suddenly changed tactics, dashing to the left where the circle of shinobi was at its strongest. The lone Jounin in the group prepared to engage the enemy but soon found a sword buried in his chest all the way to the hilt. Ignoring the pain, he reached forward and grabbed the Iwa-nin by the neck. That was his fatal mistake.

Just as he began to grip the enemy's throat, Satsuki turned to mud, exploded, and let loose a volley of earth spikes, killing the Jounin instantly along with the three Chuunin beside him. The remaining Chuunin looked around in vain for the real Satsuki and just as she reappeared by the exit, so did a large number of clones. The clones, from their position behind the Chuunin, took out their ninjato and stabbed the Chuunin's neck from behind, eliminating all nineteen Chuunin at once. The Iwa-nin left the room without looking back, her mind focused on one thing, eliminate the traitors.

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Several miles away, a team of shinobi was leaving the gates of Konoha, running to the west at top speed. At the front was the leader of the group, the pigtailed redhead Ranma Saotome. Following behind her were two more Chuunin and a medic-nin. As the quartet ran past the countless trees, one name rang clear through their heads, Satsuki.

The two Chuunin and the medic-nin were understandably apprehensive of going to confront the young kunoichi. The Hokage had stated that her strength was second only to the Tsuchikage and she was highly skilled in all aspects, save for medical and sealing techniques. Their mission was to ensure the safety of their two spies, who had discovered something important just before they themselves were discovered. Ranma had been sent with them to combat Satsuki should they be attacked during the rescue mission.

Speaking of the pigtailed teen, she was also anxious about their mission. While she did want to see Satsuki again, she didn't want to have to fight her either. She still didn't know what to make of the situation between them now that she had gone back to Iwa. They were now considered enemies but fighting the young girl was not something Ranma-chan was looking forward to. It had less to do with the fact that Satsuki could now beat her now that her Chakra was no longer sealed away, and more on the fact that Ranma-chan felt a sort of connection with her. She couldn't quite understand it herself, but she knew that a fight between the two of them would be one of the many fights that she would not enjoy. It was similar to her fights with Akane's numerous kidnappers and other such enemies yet still different in a way she couldn't explain.

"Saotome-san," called one of the Chuunin, shaking Ranma-chan out of her thoughts. "We're getting close to the base. How should we handle any enemy shinobi?" Ranma-chan remained silent for almost a minute, causing the Chuunin to wonder whether the redhead heard his question. "Saotome-san?"

"Take the spies and run," Ranma-chan replied tersely. "You heard the Hokage, Satsuki was one of the two sent to kill the spies. If we encounter her, run as fast as you can while I hold her back."

"What about the other one?"

"I'll fight both him and Satsuki if I have to," she replied, all three other shinobi feeling the conviction in her tone. Nodding in reply, not that Ranma-chan could see it, they continued running through the forest, their destination growing nearer and nearer with every passing moment.

Just as the entrance to their underground base became visible, Ranma-chan's brows furrowed and her lips tightened in determination. 'Satsuki, I'm coming for you.'

_END CHAPTER_

**Sorry about the long wait everyone, but being seniors in college is definitely taking away most of our free time. This chapter may seem rushed because of that, in our opinion anyway, so we'd appreciate any helpful comments you have to say about this chapter. **

**Please click on the 'GO' button at the bottom of the page and tell us what you think of this chapter. Like it? Hate it? Love it? Despise it? Comment? Suggestion? Flames? Criticisms? Any and all is welcome as nothing you say can discourage us, only motivate us to write better, if we can.**

**Until the next chapter then.**


	27. Arc 2 Chapter 17

Terms of Engagement

Terms of Engagement

By Overlord of Order and Overlord of Chaos

**SUMMARY: What if many of the on-goings involving Genma and Nodoka was all a hoax? What if most of what they've said was a lie? What reason could they have to lie to so many people? What does it have to do with Ranma's future?**

_**Dumbledork:**_** Nice to know you like them. It's always a hassle making sure we don't turn our OCs into Mary Sues. Well, we're assuming nobody sees them as that since we haven't had any complaints about them.**

_**keichan2:**_** Sorry to say but most of the bigger questions won't be answered until later and that there'll be more questions to answer. Guess the one thing wrong with how we planned the story was that everything would be answered at almost the same time at a very late part of the story. We'll see if we can answer some of them sooner but no guarantees.**

_**sandcrawlr:**_** Ranma's stay in the Naruto world will be the main focus of this arc and the next. We're still deciding whether or not to make a new story for what happens after he returns to his own world to face the start of the demon war. **

**Once again we apologize for the long delay. So that we won't be apologizing every time we take so long to update, we're just going to say now that time between updates will be irregular but will most likely take weeks at the very least. **

**And before we forget, a big thanks to everyone still reading despite the slow updates. Now, on to the next chapter.**

_Arc 2: Ninja Training_

_Chapter 17: Genesis_

"DIE!"

An explosion rocked the vicinity as a ball of compressed fire made contact with the ground and exploded in a rain of fire and stone, forcing one of two fighters to dodge the many projectiles. Avoiding the last of the fiery debris, Ranma Saotome charged forward, intent on ending the fight as soon as possible.

All around her lay what remained of the hideout that was her team's destination. The mere sight of her had been enough to trigger Satsuki's rage, allowing the soon-to-be forgotten spies to escape with the rest of her team. Ranma-chan could, however, sense the medic-nin of their team nearby, no doubt worried about her. With good reason too, seeing as Ranma-chan had immediately engaged Satsuki in a fight the moment the two had seen each other.

Satsuki fought immediately, due to her anger towards the pigtailed redhead at being humiliated countless times from the moment they met. Ranma-chan had fought only when she saw the rage in Satsuki's eyes, knowing that it would be best to fight a berserker away from those who weren't strong enough to face one. She stayed with her team just long enough to order her team to take the spies and return to Konoha while she kept Satsuki from following them.

That had been no more than fifteen minutes ago.

Presently both fighters were standing amongst the remains of Konoha's base, using everything and anything they could use to defeat the other. Despite having several advantages over her older opponent, she still found herself trapped in a deadlock with Ranma-chan. Satsuki's small stature, as well as her now unrestrained access to Chakra, allowed her to surpass even the female Ranma's speed. But what Ranma-chan lacked in speed, she made up for with her years of experience. With it she was still able to anticipate all of Satsuki's attacks but the lack of speed sometimes took away any time she had to block or dodge the attack.

With her Chakra once again available to her, Satsuki had immediately activated her acquired bloodline, the Mutsumi clan's Iron Body. She would have taken it to the final stage, the Armor of Invulnerability, but even when influenced by her anger and hatred towards Ranma-chan, she could still think clearly enough to know that using it too soon would lead to her defeat. She was now regretting that choice of action. Despite her body being in a hardened, more resilient state, and despite her opponent currently in her physically weaker female form, Satsuki still felt pain from every blow. While Ranma-chan seemed to feel pain as well, Satsuki could tell that it was insignificant compared to what she felt whenever she was punched or kicked.

So far only Satsuki had resorted to using Ninjutsu. At first she felt confident of her victory when Ranma-chan hadn't fought back with Ninjutsu as well. But now it was another thing she was regretting. Ninjutsu, her current arsenal at least, was useless against the older female. The weaker ones were easily dodged or blocked while the stronger ones left her open to attack too long, a fact that Ranma-chan literally pounded into her the one time she tried to use even a B-rank Earth Technique. And like her Ninjutsu, Ranma-chan stopped her from completing the handseals necessary for her Armor.

She still had an ace up her sleeve, two to be exact, but she was hesitant to use it. Despite the power it grants her, her body seemed to react badly whenever she used it, as proved by the three other times she had used it over the past two months. 'But at this rate I'll lose,' she thought, debating with herself whether or not to use her new secret weapon. 'I can't win against her with pure taijutsu, and she doesn't give me enough time to form the handseals for my more powerful ninjutsu. If I run now Shiori-sama will surely punish me.' She paused in her thoughts just long enough to reach behind her and place a hand behind her neck, over the spot where the seal had been placed. 'I have no choice it seems.'

Forming ten Earth Clones, she sent them off to attack Ranma-chan while she steadied herself and prepared to use her trump card. Ranma-chan noticed this and, not wanting the fight to go on longer than it already has, quickly dispatched the ten clones before rushing towards Satsuki to stop whatever she was attempting to do. Unfortunately, the time she took to eliminate the clones was long enough for Satsuki. "Gate of Opening, open!"

The sudden rush of power she felt coming from Satsuki was enough to cause her to stop running, stopping several feet away from the auburn haired girl. It didn't stop there though as she quickly formed handseal while Ranma-chan was recovering form her shock, ending in one unknown to Ranma-chan, but familiar. "Secret Technique: Armor of Invulnerability!"

That one was enough to pull Ranma-chan out of her shock, watching as Satsuki clenched her fist and grinned up at her. She could only say one thing as Satsuki focused her attention on her. "Crap."

One moment Satsuki was several feet away. The next moment, she felt pain as Satsuki's fist buried itself deeply into her cut, lifting her off the ground and she coughed out blood. Satsuki pulled her fist back then quickly followed up with a reverse roundhouse, her heel connecting solidly with Ranma-chan's cheek, and sending her flying back, crashing through one of the few walls that remained standing.

'That hurt more than Ryoga's punches,' she thought to herself as she pushed herself up to her knees, one arm wrapped around her abdomen and a bruise already forming on her cheek. 'What did she just do? How'd she get so much power so quickly?'

A shadow soon fell upon her and it didn't take an idiot to know who it was. Reaching down, Satsuki grabbed a handful of Ranma-chan's hair and pulled upwards, forcing the redhead to look up at Satsuki. "I'm surprised you're still conscious. Everyone else I've faced in this state was knocked out in just one blow. Although I doubt you'll last long in your condition." Releasing her hold on the crimson locks, she delivered a swift backhand to Ranma-chan's other cheek, sending her flying to the side before tumbling painfully along the hideout's debris. "While I'd like to make you pay for how much you've humiliated me the three months I've been in Konoha, I still have other business to take care of. Any last words?"

"Yeah," Ranma-chan replied weakly, getting on her feet slowly and shakily. Once on her feet, she looked directly into Satsuki's eyes, the fiery determination behind her storm blue eyes startling Satsuki for a moment. "Ranma Saotome never loses," she said just loud enough for Satsuki to hear before disappearing.

Satsuki suddenly had the feeling of déjà vu, only this time she was experiencing it through the eyes of the other person as she found Ranma-chan's fist buried in her gut. She saw Ranma-chan's face grimace in pain, caused by striking her hardened skin, but the fact that Satsuki coughed up blood like Ranma-chan had done earlier was more than enough evidence of who felt more pain. And true to the feeling, Ranma-chan delivered a brutal reverse roundhouse; only this one was aimed for the side of her ribs.

Despite the pain, Satsuki managed to flip upright and land on her feet, a glare already on her face. "I may not be as fast or as tough as you are Satsuki, but you're still a hundred years too young to beat me. From this point on, you won't get another hit on me. I'll beat you in one blow."

Those words greatly angered Satsuki, her anger towards Ranma-chan growing. "Don't underestimate me!" She yelled back, her Chakra flaring in response to her anger. "I'll show you that your experience won't be enough to save you from me!"

To the eyes of the hidden medic, both fighters quickly became a blur of movement, moving too fast for her eyes to see clearly. All she could tell was that Ranma-chan was on the defensive, resorting to running backwards to avoid being struck from behind if she attempted to run away. She had been worried when Ranma-chan received three heavy blows after Satsuki opened one of the Eight Inner Gates but was greatly relieved when she stood and fought back. However, seeing the one-sided fight before her she couldn't help but grow worried once more.

She was the only one, asides from the Hokage, who could stand up to Satsuki and even with all his power the Hokage couldn't be everywhere at once. Having even just one more person who could stand up to such a powerful kunoichi was very reassuring and her death would certainly demoralize all of Konoha's shinobi while raising morale among the enemy ranks. But seeing the high level of skill being displayed in front of her, she could only hope that the redhead survived the encounter, if for nothing more than to keep the spirits of the Konoha shinobi strong.

Ranma-chan continued dodging Satsuki's wild strikes, waiting for just the right moment to strike with her trump card. The preparations were almost complete when fate seemed to decide that it was not yet time for their fight to end because just then, another explosion of power caused Ranma-chan to leap backwards a great distance. "Gate of Rest, open!" Both the medic and Ranma-chan watched, stunned, as Satsuki's already high Chakra levels grew significantly. But it would seem that she wasn't done just yet. "Gate of Life, open!" Blue tendrils of Chakra rushed out from Satsuki, blowing away a large amount of pebbles and dust, forcing Ranma-chan to shield her eyes, and blocking both her's and the medic's view of Satsuki.

Once the dust had cleared, Ranma-chan could only stare as she took in Satsuki's new appearance. Not only was there a visible aura of Chakra flaring wildly around her body but also her skin seems to have taken a reddish hue, giving her a more intimidating appearance. "I have to admit," began Satsuki. "You're much better than I expected. But this fight ends here." With that, she simply disappeared from view. No smoke, no blur, and no hint that she had even been there in the first place. She was simply gone.

But just as quickly as she disappeared, she suddenly reappeared, her knee striking Ranma-chan from behind. Before Ranma-chan had so much as the chance to gasp out in pain, Satsuki was raining down countless punches and kicks all over her. Even to Ranma-chan's experienced eyes Satsuki seemed to multiply into three, delivering merciless attacks to every part of her body. In no more than ten seconds, Ranma-chan's entire body was wracked in pain and Satsuki ended her attack. She quickly raised her knee and buried it in the redhead's gut while at the same time smashing down both hands on her unprotected back.

Satsuki pulled her limbs back, waited just long enough for Ranma-chan to fall close to the ground, and delivered a fierce kick to her side, sending her flying away and landing painfully just a few feet away from the hidden medic. "Now do you see?" asked Satsuki, walking towards Ranma-chan's prone form as she struggled to get to her knees, Satsuki's flaring Chakra fading away and her skin tone returning to normal. "You never stood a chance from the beginning. The power you wield, the power to protect someone, is insignificant compared to the power I hold. You may be a shield, a powerful one at that, but even a shield can be broken with enough power."

"Then perhaps a stronger shield is needed," called out a new voice. Satsuki jumped away just as an unknown figure slammed into the spot where she once stood, causing a large explosion of dust and debris. Once the dust had cleared, all three shinobi were presented with the sight of the pink haired medic-nin, Sakura. "Kimiko-san," Sakura called out to the hidden medic without taking her eyes away from Satsuki. "Take Ranma and run. I'll hold her off."

"B-But Haruno-san…"

"Do it," Sakura commanded forcefully. "Ranma's in no condition to fight, not as she is at the moment and especially not against an opponent like her. Get her as far away from here as possible."

Kimiko hesitated, glancing between her fallen comrade and her superior, wondering who it was she should help. In the end, the fire burning within Sakura's gaze was more than enough to make her decision. With a rigid nod she picked up the fallen redhead, who tried to protest but was ignored, and, with one last glance towards the pink haired woman, ran in the direction of Konoha.

"You're a fool," Satsuki stated as soon as the pair had gone. "You should have gone with them. Now you'll have to face me by yourself."

"Perhaps," Sakura replied coolly. "But as I said, perhaps a stronger shield is needed to fight a powerful sword."

"And you think you are that shield?"

"We'll just have to see won't we?" was Sakura's only reply before she charged forward and Satsuki's world exploded in pain.

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Back in Konoha, a pained scream could be heard all over the village.

Entering the room where it was coming from, a quartet of ANBU was shocked at the sight of their Hokage writhing on the floor in pain. Snapping himself out of his shock, the leader turned to his team. "We have to take him to the hospital, quickly. You, run ahead and have them prepare a room. And you, get a team to investigate this room for any evidence of what might have caused this." His subordinates nodded and went to work, while he and the last of the quartet quickly but carefully picked up the Hokage and rushed him to the hospital as quickly as they could.

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It was later that night that Ranma-chan had regained consciousness, having lost it during the flight to their current location. She attempted to open her eyes but found she didn't even have the strength to do so. "Stay down," she heard someone say just as a hand was lightly pushed down on her shoulder. "I'm honestly surprised. Even with the beating you took earlier you still managed to regain consciousness on the same day. "

"S-Sakura-san?" she whispered, finally placing the voice of the speaker. "Wh-Where…"

"We're still in the forest," Sakura replied, moving away and rummaging through the first aid kit the other medic brought with her. "It's just you and me for now. I sent your team back to Konoha. The safety of the spies was the mission after all and with Satsuki still out there it wouldn't be safe for them to stay here with us."

"I see. That's a relief." Sakura nodded, not that Ranma-chan could see it. Part of the reason she had sent them back was because Ranma-chan would no doubt worry about their safety if they stayed with her in the forest. "What about Satsuki? What happened to her?"

"I tried my best to hold her off long enough to give you the chance to get as far away as possible," replied Sakura. "But in the end, I suppose I was just lucky. In the middle of our fight Satsuki suddenly started coughing up blood for no reason." Her face showed signs of confusion, not that Ranma-chan could see it with her eyes still closed but she could certainly hear it in Sakura's tone. "She showed no signs of injury prior to our fight that would lead to internal bleeding, yet she coughed up such a large amount of blood almost as though she had an illness or had been affected by some kind of poison. Did she seem ill to you? Or did you do anything that might have led to something like that?"

"If she was sick, she must have hidden it well since it didn't show. And I definitely don't remember hurting her that badly. If anything, I should be the one coughing up that much blood," she replied with a bit of humor in her tone. "What do you think happened?"

Sakura shook her head in response, "Sorry, but I don't really know. She rushed off so quickly without saying anything that I wasn't able to see much more than that."

"I see."

There was a moment of pause between them before Sakura spoke again. "You should probably get some sleep. I'll keep watch tonight then we can start returning to Konoha once you're recovered enough. She may have been alone so the rest of her team might be looking for us so it's best we get back as soon as we can."

Ranma-chan managed to give a small, but noticeable, nod of her head before her consciousness faded.

"Could something have been wrong?" Sakura whispered quietly to herself once she was certain that Ranma-chan was sleeping. "Ranma shows no signs of knowing and his time is almost up." There was a long pause before she spoke again. "There is that but… will it really help? Even if we gave him more time there's no guarantee that anything will happen." Another pause. "I suppose. Well, if nothing happens by the end of one month then we'll do that. If nothing still happens… we'll think of something. It's what _he_ would do in this kind of situation."

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"So how long will she be unable to fight?"

"The damage to her body wasn't as severe as before so she'll be able to fight. However, I'd advise against heavy use of her Chakra as it would strain her already damaged Chakra coils. Techniques that don't require that much Chakra is fine, but more than that will be dangerous. Other than that, she'll need at least two days of rest to repair her Chakra coils."

"I see, I'll be sure to relay that to her once she wakes up." Shiori thanked the doctor once more before entering the room right next to her. "I assume you heard all of that?" she asked the room's occupant and received a nod in return. "Well, now that we're alone, tell me what happened."

Satsuki took a deep breath, grimacing slightly at the pain it caused, before launching into her tale. "I pursued the spies as ordered and followed them to a Konoha outpost just inside their borders. There were roughly twenty shinobi inside, all dead now. The spies fled the outpost along with the civilians they were housing during the brief moment I was occupied by the other shinobi. Once outside, I encountered another team of Konoha shinobi that had just arrived in an attempt to rescue the spies. _He _was there."

Shiori face quickly lit up with interest at this. "Uzumaki?" she asked.

Satsuki shook her head. "Saotome."

"Saotome?" Shiori asked in question form, before realizing who it was she was speaking about. "Ah yes, that boy from the exams. I find it hard to believe that a weakling like him managed to defeat you."

"Saotome managed to fight me evenly at first," she admitted openly. "When I unleashed the power of the first gate I gained the advantage, but he was holding back as well and the increase in speed I received was not as advantageous as I had hoped as his experience allowed him to predict my actions then act accordingly. It was then that I opened the second and third gates."

"And yet you still ended up being defeated."

"He was defeated," Satsuki replied firmly, gazing directly into the Tsuchikage's eyes. "Someone interfered with the fight before I could finish it."

"Uzumaki," stated the Tsuchikage, knowing that only he had the power to defeat Satsuki.

Once again, however, her assumption proved to be wrong. "Haruno."

"Haruno?!" Shiori asked in surprise, disbelief and confusion clearly etched into her facial features. She simply could not understand how a medic-nin could defeat Satsuki once she opened even a single gate.

The auburn haired girl nodded in response, showing no hint of saying anything less than the truth. "It would seem that our information on Konoha's shinobi isn't completely accurate," she continued, her thoughts wandering back to her fight with the pink-haired medic.

"Why do you say that?"

"Because," said Satsuki, her eyes clouding over as the memory of the fight took most of her attention. "Haruno was hiding her true power. At the beginning of our fight, she merely resorted to using Genjutsu and medical techniques as well as the Godaime Hokage's strength technique. While my armor cannot completely eliminate the threat of her strength, she still lacked the strength to make any significant damage. However…"

"Go on," she muttered absently, still trying to come to terms with the fact that it was Sakura Haruno that managed to hold off Satsuki to allow the spies to escape with valuable information.

"Once it was clear that she was not going to win the fight, she unleashed a strange kind of Chakra."

Now the Tsuchikage was interested. "Define strange," she urged, giving Satsuki her complete attention.

"Unlike the normal bluish Chakra we release, the Chakra she released was a deep crimson in color. However," she continued quickly, cutting off Shiori's obvious question. "This was not accompanied by the feeling of malevolence that is normally associated with a tailed beast's Chakra. It was as though her Chakra had simply turned crimson and had become more potent. The power of her strength technique increased at least two-fold while her Genjutsu was considerably harder to sense and dispel."

"Did you use-"

"No," Satsuki immediately replied. "Doing so would go against your orders."

"Good, that is something that is best kept a secret until later. Though now they know that you are able to utilize the power of the Eight Inner Gates. However, whether or not they realize its effect on your body is still uncertain."

"What should we do now?" asked Satsuki. "By now the spies should be in Konoha and reporting their findings to the Hokage. The location of our underground base has no doubt been compromised and they will most likely attack this location soon."

The Tsuchikage shut her eyes in thought, going over any course of actions that could prevent the loss of such an important base. Their underground base served as a staging area for many important attacks into both the Fire and Wind countries, as well as a possible ambush area had it not been discovered prematurely. It was an easily defensible area both above and below the ground and with an underground source of food they would win in a battle of attrition. So the question was, what strategy should they employ in their defense?

A smile soon graced Shiori's lips as the perfect plan entered her mind. "Satsuki, as soon as you're well enough prepare for Operation Firestorm."

"Firestorm?!" Satsuki replied, her eyes wide open in surprise. "But that would-"

"I know what will happen," she stated firmly, cutting off Satsuki's reply. "But when our plan succeeds we'll be rid of our greatest obstacles." She paused to think before saying, "I estimate we'll have ten days before Konoha strikes so as soon as you've recovered enough, meet me in the training room. When Uzumaki comes to attack us, we will be ready."

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"And you're certain of this?" Naruto asked the two shinobi in a weak voice.

"We're quite certain, Hokage-sama. The base is hidden deep underground and both the Tsuchikage and the Raikage should be there. Many of their shinobi are stationed there while the rest are either in Iwa or in Kumo. From what we've gathered, their forces are divided into three. A third in each village, while the remaining third resides in their underground fortress. While it's not as large as a hidden village, the underground network connects it to three nearby underground outposts, making it easy to defend or retake, should we take over one of the main fortress."

"And the locations of the outposts?"

"Unknown. They could be anywhere within the country or possibly somewhere in the neighboring lands."

Naruto laid in the hospital bed contemplating the words of the two spies standing at the foot of his bed. Nobody knew what had caused his earlier bout of pain but enduring the pain had sapped most of his strength, leaving him as tired as the day he fought Satsuki. However, that didn't stop him from meeting with his two spies the moment they arrived in Konoha, much to the doctors' annoyance.

The news of an underground fortress came as no surprise as it had existed in his past. The only difference was that he had now found its location whereas it had been unknown to him the first time around. What disturbed him the most was that it was so close to Konoha. It was just of Fire Country, located in the land between Waterfall Country, and the former Sound Country, which is now and was once known as Rice Field Country.

There was no doubt in his mind that they would be preparing their defenses seeing as the location was compromised. From the information given to him, a head-on attack would lead to heavy losses because of the three other hidden outposts. Lack of information on an enemy was a common cause of death amongst shinobi. "What do you think?" he asked the man standing at his bedside.

"Troublesome," came the lazy reply from the equally lazy Nara. "Until we find the location of the other three outposts it would be foolish to attack the fortress. Even if we did know the locations, they would be prepared now that they know that we know about the underground base. I suggest we wait at least a week before we launch any kind of attack. While we wait, have everyone prepare for the attack by training to fight in enclosed spaces and to limit the use of ninjutsu as much as possible. We don't want that base falling down on us if we cause too much damage to the place."

Naruto nodded, seeing the logic in everything Shikamaru had just told him. "Alright. One more thing. Could you relay those orders for me? I'm not really in any condition to do much at the moment."

With a sigh and a muttered 'troublesome', the Nara turned to the spies and said, "You two come with me. Give me all the details you can." With a wave of Naruto's hand to signal their dismissal, the spies left with Shikamaru, who left to implement his suggestions.

Turning to the final person in the room, a brown-haired Chuunin named Kagato, he said, "Is there any news regarding Ranma?"

"Sorry sir, nothing as of yet. Should we send out a search team?"

"Let's give him until tomorrow," he replied tiredly. "If he's not back by the time I wake up, I'll send out a search party." And before his eyes fell shut the Chuunin had left the room to resume his duties.

**REVIEWREVIEWREVIEWREVIEWREVIEWREVIEWREVIEW**

Early the next morning, as the sun was just rising above the horizon, a red-haired teen was just waking from her slumber. Slowly opening her eyes, she raised one hand up to rub the remnants of sleep away while trying to take in her surroundings as she did not have the opportunity to do so the previous night.

Their impromptu campsite was situated amidst a large cluster of trees, a good choice in her opinion as there were only two of them and they were less likely to be spotted especially at night. Looking around, she couldn't find her pink-haired companion anywhere. Then just as she was about to call out loud, someone else spoke. "Up here."

Looking to the treetops, Ranma-chan saw Sakura standing on a high branch, scouting the area around the campsite for any form of danger. "Good morning Sakura-san," she called back. It was then that her now awake eyes caught sight of the dark rings around Sakura's eyes. "Did you stay up all night?"

"I had to," she replied casually as though it were nothing, which to her it was truly nothing. "Someone had to make sure there weren't any shinobi looking for us. Anyway, don't worry about it so much. I've stayed up longer than this in the past. Missing one night of sleep isn't that unnatural for me ever since I became the Head Doctor at the hospital."

"Still, you could have woken me up to keep watch after a few hours," argued Ranma-chan.

"Says the girl who had four broken ribs, two cracked ribs, a dislocated shoulder, and nearly half the bones in both arms and legs broken just yesterday. Never mind the internal bleeding and the concussion but someone who just had that many bones healed definitely needs the rest more than I do." Sakura replied with a grin. "Lucky for you Kimiko didn't run too far after I arrived. That girl's got a good head on her shoulders. She stopped after running for a while to start healing your injuries. If she kept running with you in your condition, the broken bones would have just gotten more aggravated with all that movement. She didn't have enough Chakra to finish everything, so she waited for me before chasing after the rest of her team. I finished off what she couldn't."

"Well, I'm alright now, right?" asked the redhead.

"Wrong."

"Wrong?"

"Right."

"But you just said you finished off what she couldn't heal."

"That doesn't mean you're completely healed though," she replied, now in full doctor mode, and jumped down from her perch to rejoin Ranma-chan on the ground. "While our medical techniques can speed up the healing process, it can't do everything. Sure the cracks and breaks in your bones are gone and they're all whole again, but those areas are still weak. A few hits to those areas, whether or not they're covered in Chakra or Chi to absorb the blow, will eventually cause them to break again. You'll need a few days of rest before you can even spar against a live opponent."

"So I can't even train?" she asked, obviously dismayed by the news given to her by the medic.

"You can train," replied Sakura, causing Ranma-chan to let out a relieved sigh, to which Sakura smirked. "As long as you don't go hitting things of course." The dispirited look on the redhead's face caused Sakura to laugh aloud.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up," she grumbled. "At least I ended up becoming Satsuki's punching bag instead of someone else."

At that statement all signs of amusement and mirth disappeared from Sakura's face so quickly that Ranma-chan was wondering if she wasn't already serious and that she had just been hallucinating. "About that," began the pink haired woman in a serious tone. "Why didn't you fight back against Satsuki?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't lie to me Ranma," she stated, her firm tone belying the anger Ranma-chan could feel coming from the older woman. "I put you through intense training once a week so I know what you're capable of. What I want to know is why you held back against Satsuki when you clearly could have beaten her. At the very least you would have been on even footing with her after she opened three of the eight Gates. So why?"

"…" The redhead remained silent as though she didn't know the answer but in all honesty, Ranma-chan knew exactly why she held back. She was simply… hesitant, as though some part of her kept her from telling the older woman the reason. It wasn't that she was afraid of Sakura, nor was she afraid of what the woman would say.

Before she could even begin to find the reason for her hesitation Sakura spoke again, this time in a softer tone. "Ranma, I know that you care for Satsuki. Anyone can see that you've grown attached to her during the time you took care of her. I'm not going to tell you that it's wrong," she said, not giving Ranma-chan the chance to reply. "Or that you should eliminate your feelings towards her. I've been in a similar situation, but I can't honestly say I know exactly how you feel as my past experience was different. But you still have to understand some things."

"Satsuki currently sees you as her enemy and will attack you every time you meet, regardless of how you feel towards her. Even if she hears what you have to say, she may not listen. I know that you only fought her this time so that the others can get away but next time there may not be any others whose lives are at risk. But even if that happens, you should still fight her. If not for yourself, then for the other people in your life."

"Huh? What others?" asked a confused Ranma-chan. "You just said that there might not be anyone else there the next time I meet her."

"I'm not talking about those on the battlefield Ranma," she expained. "I'm talking about those who are waiting for you to return from the battlefield. They might not know you that well nor do you know them, but many of Konoha's shinobi have grown to respect you. They know that you'll never kill like they do and many of them understand that. And it's because of that that they worry that you'll leave the wrong opponent alive, turn your back on them too soon, and end up dead because of a simple mistake. You're one of us now Ranma, even if only until the end of the war, and that means that we all expect you to come back alive from every mission and every battle. Every time a shinobi comes back from a mission or battle alive, we feel greatly relieved."

"The life of a shinobi is a short one Ranma. One of the dreams of a shinobi is to live to an old age. Unfortunately, not many do," she stated sadly. "Those that understand and accept that even the strongest shinobi can be killed, live everyday thinking they are going to die within moments. It's the reason why shinobi often try to experience everything life has to offer and to produce an heir as soon as they are of acceptable age in order to carry on their name and their legacy. It's also one reason why shinobi are told to rid themselves of emotions, to spare them the painful feeling of regret as they die knowing there are things they have yet to accomplish. I'm no different from them. If I die now, I'll die with many regrets."

"Like what?"

"For one thing, I'll never see if there's anyone out there who I pass on Tsunade-sama's techniques to."

"Her techniques? Wait, doesn't Chika-san know those techniques?" she asked. "She's her daughter after all."

"Chika was only 11 years old when Tsunade-sama died, so she never got to pass on her teachings. Two years later Jiraiya-sama, Shizune, and Chika left the village so I never got the chance to see if she was the one I should pass it on to."

"What about now? She's back in the village isn't she?"

"Yes but for how long? It took me nearly six years to learn everything she wanted me to learn and I was her apprentice for four more years before that. It took me several more years to fully master some of those techniques and to fully understand all her other teachings and discoveries. But before I could master the other techniques she died, so there was no one who could tell me if I had truly mastered the techniques."

"Wouldn't Chika-san want to know those techniques? They were her mother's techniques after all so I'm pretty sure she would have wanted her own daughter to learn them."

"I told her the very same thing when I spoke to her after you woke up in the hospital," she replied, sounding amused for some reason. "I also told her that I have yet to find someone who I felt was the right person to pass on her techniques to. Her reply only made me more certain that she is her mother's daughter. She said that she may be Tsunade-sama's daughter, but that doesn't entitle her to her secret techniques." Her tone then turned somber, and the amused expression on her face was replaced by a melancholic one. "What she said after that made me feel as though I was speaking to Tsunade-sama again. She said that if I don't find someone else to pass on those techniques to, then perhaps fate had only meant for them to be created, passed on to me, and eventually die with me as well."

"She believed in fate?" Ranma-chan asked with a raised eyebrow.

A look of amusement reappeared on Sakura's face, mixing with the already present expression of sadness. "Not in fate per se, but the simple fact that some events were meant to happen while other events will or will not come to pass based on the actions and decisions of an individual." She looked to the side where she could just barely see the sun behind the seemingly endless forest, already having risen above the horizon. "We better get going. The sooner we get back to Konoha the sooner you can get some rest."

Packing up the few belongings around their impromptu campsite, the two soon set off for the hidden village. Though still recovering from her injuries, Ranma-chan kept a steady pace and kept up with Sakura. Within an hour of running through the dense forest surrounding the village the walls were soon within sight. Before Ranma-chan knew it they were checking in with the west gate's guards who, just as Sakura had just said, seemed relieved upon seeing the two of them. It wasn't an obvious showing of relief, but their tone upon greeting them had a hint of relief in it.

The first thing the two did upon entering the village was to proceed to the Hokage's office to report their return. But upon reaching the structure, they were met by the sight of several ANBU operatives along with a few Hyuuga, Inuzuka and Aburame, performing, what seemed to be, an examination of the entire building. Looking around, Sakura spotted a man wearing a fox mask and walked towards him with Ranma-chan in tow.

Sensing the woman's approach, the fox masked ANBU greeted them. "Haruno-san," he said with a nod. "Saotome-san," he continued with another nod. "The Hokage is currently in the hospital," said the masked man. As the ANBU commander he was aware of every mission every shinobi of the village went on and as such was also aware that the team sent to escort the spies back had returned with the spies but was lacking their team leader. "You should go to see him before he wakes up so he knows not to send out a team to search for you."

Seemingly ignoring what the man said, Sakura asked the question that was on both hers and Ranma-chan's mind. "What happened here? Was there an assassination attempt?"

"We're still unsure," replied the man, never taking his eyes off the structure before him as though he would miss something should he take his attention off it. "The team that was guarding the Hokage tower yesterday reported that the Hokage suddenly began screaming as though in extreme pain. But when half the team entered the room all they found was the Hokage writhing on the floor in pain. Two of them picked up the Hokage and took him to the hospital, one ran ahead to have them prepare a private room with only the most trusted doctors and the last one returned to the ANBU headquarters to have a team investigate the area."

"And how is the investigation going?"

"We've have several of the best shinobi the Hyuuga, Inuzuka and Aburame could offer helping our best investigation team find anything. We also have some people questioning people around the village to see if they noticed anyone or anything out of the ordinary. We've been working since yesterday but we've found no sign of how the Hokage was attacked."

"What about Naruto? What did he say about it?"

"All he said once he recovered was that he was working when the pain struck," he replied.

"I see," was all that Sakura said before turning to Ranma-chan. "We better go to the hospital then. I'm sure Naruto will want to know what happened with Satsuki."

Both of the quickly left for the hospital, one of the curious as to what could have happened while the other was worried about her friend. It didn't take long for them to arrive and proceed directly to the room where Naruto was. "There is only one room in the hospital where important people like the Hokage would be kept if they were injured," Sakura explained to Ranma-chan as she opened the door. "It's the easiest to defend and easy to escape from if you know how to."

Walking through the doorway, Ranma-chan found herself inside a narrow, dimly lit hallway that was barely wide enough for three people to walk side-by-side. The pair followed the hallway all the way to the end where it turned left and no more than two meters in front of them were two ANBU operatives standing on either side of another door.

"Sakura Haruno and Ranma Saotome here to report to the Hokage," Sakura stated in a formal manner.

One of the masked shinobi stepped forward and began checking both Sakura and Ranma-chan for any form of disguise or Genjutsu while the other stayed beside the door, ready to attack the two if they turned out to be imposters. After a minute or two the masked man was satisfied and stepped back. "Go on in," he said with a nod.

Sakura nodded back, walked to the door, pushed it open, and walked into the room with Ranma-chan close behind her. Lying on one of the many beds in the room was none other than Naruto Uzumaki. And sitting at his bedside was his wife, Hinata. Although from the looks of it, she was in the room as his doctor instead of his wife.

"I'm fine," Naruto argued, albeit quite weakly. Probably because of the look his wife was giving him.

"And as your doctor I say you're not," she replied, the stern look on her facing never leaving for even a moment. "Until you've fully recovered you won't be leaving the hospital. Hello Sakura, Ranma," she greeted warmly with an equally warm smile as she turned to face them briefly only for the stern look to reappear as soon as she faced the blonde Hokage. "And you certainly won't be doing any work while you're here. I don't care if they claim it's for the sake of the village but I'll be personally screening anyone who tries to bring in any work related things. It's nice to see you made it back safely."

"Uh… yeah, thanks," Ranma-chan replied, unsure of what to make of the situation. If she didn't know any better, which she was glad she did, she would have asked if she had a split-personality she was unaware of.

"So what happened?" Naruto asked the redhead immediately. "I heard you ran into Satsuki and that Sakura helped you out. On that note, what were you doing there Sakura? I don't remember you going off on a mission."

"Yes, Ranma did run into Satsuki and yes I helped her out," Sakura replied before Ranma-chan could reply. "As for what I was doing I on my way to gather some herbs."

"You left the village to gather herbs?" he asked, clearly unconvinced. "Why didn't you just send someone else to do it?"

"Because I don't trust the usual people to gather these particular herbs," came the reply. "It takes great care to properly uproot one plant without harming it and only Hinata and myself know how to do so."

"But did you have to go out so far? It's not that I'm ungrateful that you helped out Ranma, but wouldn't it have been safer to gather some that was closer to the village? We can't risk having our top medic going missing because she wandered off too far."

"The Black Root is a rare plant that's normally found in Suna. However, there's a spot close to the border of Fire and Wind country where they grow. Unless of course you want me to run around in Wind Country gather it. And let's not forget I don't know where in Wind Country I'm going to find a Black Root," she replied, her face and tone just as stern as the one used by Hinata just moments ago. She paused to let her words sink in for just a moment before she spoke again, this time in a softer, more concerned, tone. "I don't… understand you anymore."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean just that. You've changed Naruto, and not just a little. It's like another person replaced you around the time the war with Orochimaru ended. I can see parts of who you used to be but it's like watching an imposter try to pretend to be you but failing, very badly."

"What are you talking about? I haven't changed."

"Are you trying to convince me? Or yourself?" she asked softly, looking at her former teammate with concern. "I know you've changed Naruto. I've known you since we were Genin on the same team so I can safely say I know you better than most people. You _have_ changed whether you'll admit it or not. And let me tell you Naruto, it's not a change for the better," she finished with a shake of her head. Without another word, she turned around, opened the door, and left.

Standing there, seemingly forgotten with all the excitement, Ranma-chan felt very uncomfortable. Who wouldn't after witnessing a situation like that? And the fact that she was more or less an outsider could only add to her discomfort. Noticing this, Hinata took pity on the redhead and said, "I have more work to do so I'll be leaving now. I'll be back in a few hours and I expect you to be in this room, on that bed, and without any signs of work, understand?"

Receiving an absent nod in response, Hinata gestured for Ranma-chan to follow her as she left the room, walking the length of the hallway until they reached the hospital's main hallways. "I'm sorry you had to see that," she said to the younger female. "Naruto's just worried about Sakura. We're at war again not a year after the last one ended. Nearly everyone's on edge, especially with Satsuki back in Iwa."

"Anyway, are there any injuries you need treated?" she asked, displaying her uncanny ability to switch from one emotion to the next in a split second. "Kimiko-san said that she treated what she could and left the rest to Sakura. But after a fight with Satsuki I'm not too sure that Sakura had enough Chakra left to heal everything."

"Well, Sakura-san did say I was fine," Ranma-chan replied.

She then repeated what she could from their conversation roughly an hour earlier and the previous night regarding her injuries. Hinata listened attentively, nodding every now and then to show that she was still listening. "In that case, I suggest you take her advice," she said after listening to it all. "No heavy or strenuous training until one of us clears you for it. Given that you heal faster than most I'd say you'll be able to start training in three or four days. Just to be sure, I want you to look for Sakura or myself in three days and we'll see if you're healed enough for your regular training."

"Alright, anything else?" Receiving a shake of her head in return, Ranma-chan said, "Then I'll be heading back to my apartment. If I can't train I may as well look at that last scroll from Happosai."

Hinata nodded and the two went their separate ways. Reaching an intersection, Hinata stopped just as she reached the corner. "I'm surprised you're still here," she said with a cold tone. "You may have fooled Naruto but I'm certain that you know that I caught that little lie. So," she paused just long enough to form a chakra scalpel and to place the chakra blade just underneath a person's chin. "Why don't tell me who _you _really are?"

A grin found its way to the pink haired woman's lips as she looked into Hinata's pale eyes with her green ones. "I'm Sakura Haruno, who else can I be?" Sakura asked calmly, not the least bit perturbed by the fact that the pale-eyed woman could kill her in a heartbeat.

"Really now?" Hinata asked coldly. "Because from what I've seen these past few weeks, you're not the Sakura I know. I can see parts of who you used to be but it's like watching an imposter try to pretend to be you but failing, very badly."

"Using my own words against me? That's not very original of you," she asked, clearly amused with the situation. "Still, you have nothing to worry about."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because the Sakura you see now is the real Sakura Haruno."

"Exactly what are you saying? And I'd choose my words carefully if I were you."

"All I'm saying is that what you've been seeing for so many years has been nothing more than a mask."

"So why now? Why choose now of all times to reveal this?"

"Because now, things are starting to get interesting," Sakura replied as her body started to fade away, revealing that she had been nothing more than a Genjutsu. "The next time we meet will be on the battlefield. This is just the beginning Hinata. There are still more surprises in store for you and, more importantly, for Naruto. When the time comes, I hope you and Naruto will be able to provide me with a decent challenge." With those final words the image of the pink haired woman faded away, leaving Hinata standing there by herself.

Certain that nobody was around her at the moment, Hinata's cold façade disappeared and made way for a deeply concerned expression. "Sakura…" she whispered softly, looking out the window towards the western gate where she could feel Sakura's diminishing presence as she left the village once more. "Why is this happening? This never happened before, so why now?"

Knowing that she wouldn't find the answers to her questions by just asking herself, she turned around, walked back the way she came, and left the hospital. Maybe she didn't have the answers, but there was one person in the village who she was certain might be able to provide at least a theory. With that in mind, she began her journey to the hot springs where she found the person she was looking for. "We need to talk, Happosai."

_END CHAPTER 17_

_END ARC 2_

**Alright everyone, as you can see just above this sentence, this is the final chapter for this arc of the story. The next arc will still take place in the Naruto world and will cover the Konoha/Suna – Iwa/Kumo war and will end with Ranma's return home. **

**It's been three months since our last update, and two years since we post the first chapter of this story. But don't worry, we'll definitely see this through until the end. The main scenes of the next arc have already been written during the time that we suffered from writers block during the past few chapters so all that needs to be written are the fillers since I'm sure you people don't want to read several chapters full of nothing but fights and battles.**

**As usual, please click the GO button near the lower left corner of the page and tell us what you think. Like it, love it, hate it, despise it, wanna burn it, wanna print out a copy of the chapter and frame it, it doesn't matter what it is we still want to hear your opinions. **

**So until the next chapter people.**


	28. Arc 3 Chapter 1

Terms of Engagement

By Overlord of Order and Overlord of Chaos

**SUMMARY: What if many of the on-goings involving Genma and Nodoka was all a hoax? What if most of what they've said was a lie? What reason could they have to lie to so many people? What does it have to do with Ranma's future?**

Long time no see everyone. Sorry for the long delay but the start of the third and, depending on what we decide, possibly the last arc of the story is finally here. If we decide to make this the last arc then we will obviously start a new story to continue this.

Anyway, what a lot of you said about Satsuki wasn't that unexpected. But don't worry, she'll be making an appearance here in this chapter and will be showing up a lot in this entire arc. Ranma is still the main character but she will definitely be a major character.

_Arc 3: World of the Amaranthine War_

_Chapter 1: The Thunderstruck Tower_

Nine days had passed since the top medic and head doctor of the hospital had left Konoha on a secret mission. At least, that's what the public had been told. In truth, well… nobody truly knew. Even after Hinata relayed the event to Naruto and their friends, none of them could come up with any theories to explain the woman's actions and words. At least, none that they could, or wanted to, believe.

Happosai, after hearing Hinata's recap of what had happened no more than ten minutes before they began talking, had one theory. Being one of those that had gone back in time, his theory, of course, revolved around the changing of events. "We came to the past to change things but not every change may be to our liking. Perhaps one of those changes triggered the change in her."

When Hinata asked what kind of change could have led one of their oldest and closest friends to possibly betray them, Happosai only had one thing to say. "It's not that she changed from becoming your friend to becoming a traitor. We arrived no more than a year ago so therefore any unforeseen changes will stem from whatever we changed. Sakura's sudden change, in my opinion, is not so sudden if you think about it. She told you that what you have been seeing for _years_ is a mask," he said, emphasizing that one word to get his point across.

"But what does it mean?" Hinata had asked.

"It means that the possibility that she would betray you was already there before we had even returned; that her loyalty was already wavering," he had replied, knowing that while it was not something the woman would want to hear, it was something that she had to hear. "Perhaps something you did before kept her loyal. But now something that someone had done differently had caused her to question her loyalty and caused her to choose to leave the village. Going by what you said, perhaps the difference between the Naruto now and the Naruto of then was what caused her to leave. It is the most recent difference that I can think of that may cause her to leave."

"So she left because the Naruto she sees is no longer the one she knew?" she asked in turn, shaking her head in disbelief. "I'm certain that that is not the case. Sakura is not that kind of person. She wouldn't have betrayed us just because Naruto has changed. It doesn't make sense."

"It makes perfect sense to me," he replied, taking a deep breath through his pipe and blowing out a large puff of smoke. "Perhaps she simply sees that the New Naruto isn't someone worthy of her service."

After discussing Happosai's theory with Naruto, in private first, then with the rest of their friends, making sure to edit out anything that had to do with time traveling, Shikamaru, Neji, and Shino, the three most logical thinkers of the group, agreed that it was possible. Yet they still didn't want to believe that Sakura was the kind of person to abandon someone just because she didn't like how they had changed.

The only other plausible theory they could come up with was that Sakura had been planning to betray them for quite a while, perhaps even a long time ago, and had chosen that day to flee and defect to the enemy. But none of them would believe that Sakura, of all people, would betray them. But one or more of the three shot down every theory they came up with to justify the pink haired woman's actions. As much as the three of them also wanted to believe that Sakura would never betray them they repeatedly reminded their friends that they were at war and that they had to be prepared for the possibility that Sakura would be their enemy the next time they met, just as she herself had told Hinata before her Genjutsu ended.

Along with the ten of them, only a few others knew the truth. Kakashi Hatake, of course, was one of them. He was the Jounin instructor of Sakura during her Genin days, as well as someone to look to for advice during her Chuunin days, so he knew her quite well. But like the others, the only plausible answer he could come up with was, once again, betrayal.

Another who was aware of the truth was Shizune, who helped train Sakura alongside her master, Tsunade. And through her both Jiraiya and Chika also learned of the medic's flight from Konoha. Both Jiraiya and Chika also served as a voice of reason to the group while Shizune joined those who wanted to believe that she did what she did for the good of the village.

And last but not the least was none other than Ranma Saotome. He had been brought in for a private questioning session in Naruto's hospital room with those who knew of the situation. Upon learning of what she had done he had answered all their questions as best as he could. If anyone had asked him what he believed, he would have not known what to say. A part of him believed she might have betrayed them and seeing as she was a shinobi, it was definitely not outside the realm of possibility. Even so, another part of him wanted to believe that she was incapable of such an act and that it was an imposter attempting to break their trust in her.

In the end there was simply not enough information and evidence to prove her innocence or her guilt. Many people had seen her, Hinata had clearly heard what she said, and she also sensed Sakura's chakra signature as she fled the village that day. But on the other hand, there was the possibility that she was indeed framed to make it seem as though she betrayed them. But if the latter was true, where was she?

If she was framed in such a way that she was made to look like a traitor, they had to make sure that Sakura was unable to explain herself. And that meant she was either outside the village for some reason or she had been captured. Either way she would be unable to return to Konoha without being placed under suspicion, seeing as she had no concrete evidence of being framed other than her word. And that was certainly something that would greatly affect the shinobi populace of Konoha in many different ways, all of them beneficial to the enemy.

Whether it was betrayal or not, nothing good could come out of it.

If that wasn't bad enough, Shikamaru had approached Naruto the day before with more bad news. "You'll have to tell the other shinobi something," he had said. "You never know if she'll be there during the attack. Telling them the truth will certainly demoralize them, but by not telling them you run the risk of letting them drop their guard if they see her during the attack. If they find out that they were betrayed in the middle of the battle the effect will be much worse."

He had already known that but he had been trying to avoid it. He couldn't just tell the other shinobi that they had been betrayed. With Sakura's knowledge of Konoha's deepest secrets along with her skills, many of which were inherited from the legendary medic Tsunade, she was at least an A-rank threat, if not more. And A-rank targets were, if defeated, often killed during the fight and rarely brought back alive since fighting such opponents without the use of lethal force led to certain death.

But it had to be done. And so later that same day, he had made up his mind, and called all shinobi Chuunin rank and above to an emergency meeting. However, the meeting did not proceed as his friends expected. In fact, only Shikamaru had anticipated what Naruto had done. The rest of the Konoha 11 were just as surprised as the other shinobi at the news given by the Hokage.

He told the assembled shinobi that Iwa and Kumo, with the help of Orochimaru's journal, had discovered a way to control a person and that Sakura was possibly being used to test this. "As of today, Sakura Haruno is to be considered an enemy of Konoha," he had said to the assembled group. "If any of you happen to meet her in any battles, Chuunin are to flee and report this to a higher ranking shinobi. Jounin are to engage her in groups of no less than three and bring her back to Konoha alive where we can attempt to undo whatever Iwa and Kumo have done to her."

"But know this, I do not want any of you risking your lives needlessly," he stated firmly. "The life of one live shinobi, is more important than a possibility of recovering another. There may or may not be a chance that this condition can be reversed and I do not want to lose even a single shinobi under my command attempting to bring her back only to discover that she cannot be saved. But no matter what happens, know that Iwa and Kumo shall pay for this crime. In two days we will have our chance to show them what it means to attack the strongest of the five hidden villages."

It was a lie, and he and his friends knew it. It was one final act to discover the truth behind Sakura's betrayal. They wanted her alive, if for nothing more than to find out why she betrayed them. If one of them met her on the battlefield, they knew they would all do the same thing. Try to find out her reason for leaving and, if she had indeed betrayed them, kill her. At the very least one of them would be the one to kill her instead of someone else.

Ranma, however, was another story. For the previous five days, starting four days after his return from his first mission as a Chuunin, he had done nothing but sleep, eat, and train. He had heard about the meeting from Hinata but couldn't care less about what the other shinobi were told. He knew the truth and that was enough for him. Why the Hokage had lied to his army was none of his concern. What bothered him the most was Sakura's behavior.

He, like the others, wanted to know the real reason why she left. He had not felt the painful sting of betrayal in the past yet certain things came close, specifically after the failed wedding incident. Even after everything he had done for her, Akane's treatment of him had not changed for the better. In fact, it had only gotten worse. A simple act such as greeting another female would cause her anger to surface. He had done so much for her, risked so much for her, and had given up on a chance to rid himself of his female form to save her life. Yet in the end, he received nothing but her anger. If the pain he felt at that time had hurt him, this betrayal had dealt a lethal blow.

On the day that he was asked to recall if she had been doing anything out of the ordinary since his arrival, his thought immediately turned to the weekly training sessions they had. He thought about telling them about it but his instincts had gotten in the way, telling him to keep it hidden. Like always, he followed his instincts and replied that he couldn't think of anything that was out of the ordinary.

He was a poor liar and he knew that. But by telling himself over and over that those weekly training sessions were normal, to him at least, he managed to get through the questioning without bringing suspicion to himself. That, and the fact that they were too concerned with a possible betrayal by a close and trusted friend distracted them enough from spotting his lie. He did not know why his instincts told him to protect that one secret, but he'd kept it. Whether or not the decision to keep such an event hidden was a good idea still remained to be seen.

Currently, Ranma was walking amongst a group of seventeen Jounin from Konoha in one of their bases within Waterfall Country. Suna had also sent seventeen of their Jounin to the same base and were getting acquainted with the Konoha group while Suna's main army had joined up with Konoha's main force in one of Konoha's outposts in northern Fire Country.

The plan, as discussed by the Hokage, the Kazekage, and both their strategists, was to divide their forces into two. The main army of both villages would use the transportation rooms to travel to one of Konoha's forts in northern Fire Country and would attack the underground fortress from the south. This army would be further divided into two. One would enter the underground fortress to engage the enemy while the other remained outside as reinforcements as well as to prevent any surprise attacks meant to trap them inside.

The team of thirty-five in Waterfall Country, including Ranma, was an infiltration team. During the time between the arrival of the spies and the day of the attack, one of Konoha's scouts had found one of the three outlying bases that connected to the main underground fortress through a series of tunnels. The infiltration team would attack that outpost, which was to the northeast of the Konoha outpost, and sneak into the tower from there while the main force kept the enemy's attention on the surface.

Their task was to set pre-made explosive seals in the lower levels of the fortress. Those explosive seals, unlike conventional ones, were made specifically to detonate ten minutes after they were activated. Their team would be using radios to communicate between the ten teams of three to synchronize the activation of the ten seals so that the first five would detonate at the same time while the other five would detonate one at a time starting five seconds after the first five goes off with a gap of five seconds between each detonation. The idea was to cause heavy damage to the foundation of the fortress with the initial blast while the others would cause more damage in addition to the powerful shockwaves that would disturb the already weakened foundation.

The remaining five shinobi on the team would protect their escape route and would send word to the main force once the seals were activated. Ten minutes was more than enough time for the infiltration team to escape the explosion and it was also enough time to allow any of the Konoha shinobi who managed to enter the upper levels of the fortress to leave before the detonation of the first seal.

And so there he was, walking around the Konoha outpost with thirty-four other shinobi. As he looked at the group with more attention than before, he realized two things. The first was that every single one of them was wearing completely black suits and black masks that covered the lower half of their faces, though only a few actually had them on while the rest were pulled down and were resting around their necks. And instead of the open toed sandals he often saw the shinobi wearing, they now wore light black boots. Looking at them all, Ranma thought they looked a lot like the modern stereotypical shinobi of his world.

The second thing he realized was that there were a few people he recognized. Two of the easiest to recognize were none other than Neji Hyuuga and Kotoko Uzumaki, their pale eyes and familiar faces registering in his mind immediately. Around them were nine more Hyuuga Clan members, none that he recognized.

Another one was one he recognized as the Kazekage's brother, Kankuro if he remembered correctly. On his back was a large object, a little shorter Kankuro, wrapped up in bandages. Though his mask covered half his face, the face paint, as the man liked to call it, gave him away.

The fourth and final person he recognized was his former Jounin instructor, Kurenai. Like Kankuro, she was one of the few who had their masks up. The only reason he recognized her was because of her crimson eyes and her graying, wavy hair.

After a few more seconds of scanning the crowd, he realized they all had one more thing in common. They were all staring at him. He looked around one more time and confirmed that they were indeed looking at him. Looking down, he saw the reason. He was wearing red. "Um… I guess I was suppose to wear black, huh?" he stated sheepishly with an equally sheepish grin on his face.

Shaking her head in amusement, Kurenai said, "This is an infiltration team after all. Then again, I didn't expect you to know that we're required to dress as stealthily as possible."

"Uh… sorry?"

"Never mind," said the Hyuuga Clan Head. "With your abilities you could be running naked through the middle of the battlefield and nobody would notice unless you wanted them to." This caused Kurenai and both Hyuuga to chuckle in amusement while the other black clad shinobi were wondering what he meant. "With the lack of a bloodline used for detection on their side, your Umi-Sen-Ken will be a powerful tool for this mission so use it well."

Looking across the horizon towards the setting sun, he said, "We will leave before the sun rises so all of you get some rest. We will not wait for anyone who falls behind." And with that, most of the gathered shinobi walked away to prepare for the operation.

"I'm surprised you're here," said Kotoko, walking up to Ranma. "I thought you'd be on the front lines distracting the enemy with dad."

Ranma grinned, one that said that he knew something she didn't. "Yeah I thought so too but I'm fine with this. A lot of strong guys usually stay inside in case of an emergency or a sneak attack like what we're doing. This way I'm more likely to have them to myself."

"Battle maniac," she replied, not bothering to keep her thoughts hidden. "Still, don't go looking for a fight and if you do get into a fight, end it as quickly as you can. The sooner we get our mission done, the less time the main group will have to spend fighting. And the less time they spend fighting, the less likely we are to lose someone."

"Kotoko's right Ranma," spoke Kurenai. "Our role in this battle is the most important. It is the main group's job to distract the enemy to help ensure the success of our mission. Our victory as a whole will be decided by whether or not we succeed. If we can destroy their base and keep our losses to a minimum, then it is a victory for us."

"But wouldn't it have made more sense for Ranma to be with the main force?" Kotoko asked Kurenai, turning to face the older woman. "Now that the Tsuchikage knows about him, she'll be on the look out for him. If he's not with the main force she'll suspect something."

"Do not worry about that." This time, the reply came from the Hyuuga Clan Head. "We prepared measures to ensure that the Tsuchikage believes that Ranma is at the main battlefield. So long as neither she nor Satsuki appear to fight too early, she'll be led to believe that he's there."

"A decoy then?" she asked, to which her uncle nodded. "But what are you doing here? Wouldn't it be better if you were on the front lines?"

"You make it sound as if I'm incapable of infiltration," replied Neji with a bit of humor. "I requested to be part of this team for a reason. And no, I'm not going to tell you." He smirked as his niece pouted while Kurenai and Ranma looked on in amusement. "Regardless of my being here, be sure to rest tonight and be ready for the attack tomorrow. You can do whatever you want until then. Just remember that we will not wait for anyone who falls behind." Neji turned around to leave only to stop, activate his Byakugan discreetly, and say, "Oh yes, Ranma. Lee asked me to tell you something. He said that if he cannot distract the enemy to ensure our success then he will do two thousand vertical push-ups with only his fingers."

While Ranma hadn't shown much surprise at that statement, obviously used to the taijutsu master's strange proclamations, the look of pure shock on Kotoko's face upon hearing that was simply priceless; but her reaction was nothing compared to what followed. "And if he fails that task, he will climb up and down the Hokage monument fifty times with both arms and one leg tied behind him. Failing that, he will run two hundred laps around the village on his fingertips while balancing a boulder with his feet."

With every task Neji relayed that the eccentric taijutsu master claimed to do for failing a previous one, Kotoko's jaw fell open wider and wider until Ranma was certain that he could fit an entire watermelon into her mouth. "There was more after that but I didn't stay to listen." That was the straw that broke the camel's back, marked by Kotoko's face making a quick journey to the hard earth in disbelief. Though his back was turned, both Ranma and Kurenai were certain that Neji had enjoyed that. "You should be more careful Kotoko. It wouldn't do to get injured before the operation begins." And with that he walked away while laughing at his niece's reaction, inwardly of course. It wouldn't do for the Head of the Hyuuga Clan to be seen laughing boisterously.

Looking down at Kotoko's twitching form, Ranma couldn't help but ask, "Never heard him say stuff like that?"

"Never stayed around him long enough to hear it I guess," she replied, her voice muffled by the earth.

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"Is everything ready?"

"I've double-checked everything personally Shiori-sama. Everything should go according to plan unless someone manages to sneak in to sabotage our preparations between now and then."

"Good," replied the Tsuchikage as she walked down the halls of their underground base with Satsuki following right behind her. "Just to be certain I want you to recheck tonight and tomorrow morning."

"Shiori-sama, why did you order everyone to sleep tonight including the guards and patrols?"

"What's wrong? Do you think something will happen tonight?" She turned to looked behind her and found Satsuki hesitating. "You can speak freely about this subject you know."

Hearing that, Satsuki's hesitation disappeared almost instantly. "Tonight is the night of the new moon and thus visibility will be very low. It's the best time for a night attack. Even if we are underground, the guards might not be able to see the enemy coming before it's too late and thus be killed before they can alert us. And without guards they could easily prepare an ambush for us right at the entrance to the surface."

"Why do you believe that Uzumaki will attempt to attack us tonight?"

"With the Byakugan on their side, they can easily spot our patrols and guards even in the darkness, and take them out without too much trouble. It's an obvious advantage and he would be a fool not to take it."

"And that is exactly why we rest tonight," replied Shiori, causing Satsuki to grow even more confused. "If they attack, it is only common sense to fortify our defenses at that time, correct?" she asked, to which the auburn haired girl nodded. "That is what we would normally do. But do not forget that they have a Nara as their strategist. He will no doubt anticipate this and therefore have Uzumaki attack at dawn."

"Dawn? But why wait for the sun to rise?"

"Our increase in defense will not only tire out those of us who remained awake, but will also test our patience as we waited for an attack that would never come. When the sun rises, we will assume that they have chosen not to take advantage of the darkness and that no attack is coming."

"And when we turn our backs, they attack," finished Satsuki.

"Precisely. Recounting the first attack we sent into Fire Country, this was the same thing they did. We assumed they would respond immediately to the attack on their border camp only to end up waiting several hours. By then, many had grown impatient and also weary and hungry from the long wait, thus their overall abilities were weakened greatly during the actual battle. While we would have lost due to the fact that they surrounded us and had anticipated the trap, we may have killed many more of them if our shinobi were in peak condition."

"And you're certain that they will employ the same strategy again?"

"Only a fool ventures blindly into enemy territory. While others will take advantage of both the darkness and the abilities of the Byakugan, Uzumaki cares too much about the wellbeing of his subordinates so he will not take any unnecessary risks. Even with the Byakugan on his side only they can see so well in the dark, the rest are just as blind."

"Nara is a genius," Satsuki commented offhandedly. "Won't he know that using a trick twice is foolish?"

"Once again, precisely. Normally we would be preparing for a night attack since they wouldn't dare try the same trick twice. He expects us to prepare for a night attack so they repeat the same strategy and attack when we are tired and restless once again."

"And if he anticipates this as well?"

"Impossible. He may be a genius but I am a master of strategy. I have studied the art of strategy even before I was a Genin and I've been applying everything I've learned with everything it can be applied to. There is simply no chance he can defeat me in a strategic battle."

'If there's one thing you can count on in a fight against someone who's pretty sure of themselves, it's that it's possible to turn that confidence to arrogance given the right situation,' Satsuki thought to herself, remembering the words Ranma had told her during one of their spars. During that fight, her confidence in her ability to defeat Ranma in a battle of ninjutsu had, like he said afterward, turned to arrogance the moment she saw that he was unable to form handseals quickly enough to counter her techniques. But almost as soon as that happened his hands blurred through handseals, and before she knew it, she was flying through the air courtesy of Ranma's Great Breakthrough.

Hearing about how certain she was of victory, Satsuki momentarily considered the idea of repeating those same words to her. But in the end, the desire to not feel the pain of the seal at the back of her neck won out and she kept silent. She just hoped that the Tsuchikage's confidence, rather overconfidence, did not lead to their defeat.

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Dawn came too quickly for both armies' liking but both sides were ready to fight even before the first rays of light from the sun appeared over the horizon. As planned, both the main force and the infiltration team departed their bases just as the sun peeked out of the horizon while the combined forces of Iwa and Kumo prepared to defend the fortress.

The first sign of battle was the sight of over fifty kunai falling from the sky. The many Kumo and Iwa shinobi that gathered at the surface easily dodged all the kunai and were laughing at the pathetic attempt at a surprise attack. All of a sudden smoke erupted from where the kunai landed. Many were caught off guard and they paid for it with their lives as their throats were slit and within moments, nearly thirty shinobi could be seen lying dead once the smoke had cleared.

At the center of the remaining shinobi was none other than Naruto Uzumaki, the Rokudaime Hokage of Konoha, and Konoha's Second Flash. And before a single one of them could react he was gone in a flash of yellow and soon three more were lying dead on the ground.

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Elsewhere, several miles away from where the battle was beginning, the infiltration team was atop a hill overlooking a village. They wore the same clothes as the day before, only this time the masks were pulled up to cover the lower half of their faces and they wore hoods to keep their hair from being seen. As it was, only Ranma's identity was not kept a secret but in the end it didn't really matter.

The village, for all intents and purposes, was abandoned but through the eyes of a Hyuuga like Neji and Kotoko, the truth was revealed. Underneath the small village was a large underground room and from what they could see, there were over a hundred enemy shinobi inside, just waiting for someone to attack.

"So what are we waiting for?" Ranma asked Kotoko, seeing as she was the closest to him that he was familiar with.

Every member of the team was patiently watching their surroundings for any sign of movement just in case they had already been spotted and surrounded without their knowledge. While doing so they carefully masked their presence to keep their presence hidden from the enemy shinobi they knew were hiding beneath the village.

"We're watching for any movement coming from the enemy shinobi," she replied, having gone over the details with her uncle the day before. "When the fighting starts they're bound to keep a close eye on the three other entrances in case we decided to attack all four entrances at once."

"So we're waiting for them to drop their guard?"

Kotoko hummed for a bit before she said, "I think it would be best if you wait and then see for yourself what I mean."

And wait he did. He knew the battle had already begun when he could sense large amount of Chakra coming from the east. For five minutes he stayed crouched on top of the hill with the rest of the infiltration team. Five minutes soon became ten. Ten tripled, and then doubled agonizingly slowly to an hour. Just as Ranma was about to lose it, the Hyuuga Clan Head spoke. "They're moving."

Upon hearing those words, everyone made sure to keep their focus lest their presence be felt. They watched as a majority of the enemy shinobi exited from various buildings in the village and proceeded to run to the east where the main battle was taking place, not even bothering to check their surroundings for a possible ambush. "And they're leaving just like that?" Ranma whispered. "I thought they were supposed to be guarding the entrance."

"Getting something like this to happen is something that requires great patience," replied the pale-eyed teen as she watched the enemy shinobi disappear into the distance. "As I said earlier, they planned for the possibility that we will attack one of the three other entrances. The Tsuchikage knew for a fact that the spies you rescued only knew about the main entrance so it was obvious that that was one entrance we were certain to attack."

"What she does not know is whether or not we discovered the other entrances so she planned ahead and placed additional security measures. But by spreading her forces in such a way, the defenses of the main entrance will not be as strong. When the main force starts to push them back, she will call for the shinobi in the other entrances to attack the main force from another direction. And with three other entrances the main force will be fighting not only those in the village, but also those coming towards them."

"So they'll be surrounded then?" Kotoko nodded in response. "I hope they're ready then. Otherwise they might not last long enough for us to finish our job here."

Once they were out of sight range for even Neji's highly developed Byakugan he stood. "Let's go."

As one, the thirty-four black clad shinobi, plus one dressed in red, stood and dashed towards the abandoned village, keeping their presence hidden the entire time. They divided into ten groups of three, with one Hyuuga in each team, and the remaining five, Neji included, stayed together to form the eleventh group. Each group ran towards one of the many buildings they saw the enemy exit from. "Find the entrance, scout the enemy, and then wait for the signal," came the voice of Neji Hyuuga, as they moved towards the buildings.

Within seconds all the Konoha shinobi were indoors and the Hyuuga of each group, who just so happened to be Kotoko for Ranma's group, activated their bloodline and looked underground. "Only twenty of them left, all Jounin," said Kotoko as the other Hyuuga made similar reports to their respective groups.

Kotoko watched Neji's signals, nodding every few moments as she received the coded message pertaining to their strategy. Once the entire message was relayed, Kotoko and the other Hyuuga relayed the message to their teams before shifting their attention back to Neji.

All the Hyuuga redirected their attention to Neji who held up one hand, all fingers extended. He then curled his thumb towards his palm, leaving four fingers extended. Just as he did, the Hyuuga relayed the orders to their team. "We move in three seconds," they relayed once his smallest finger curled towards his palm. "Two." The Hyuuga in each group cocked their arms back, aimed for the door, and gathered Chakra into their palms. "One." One member from each group began forming handseals while the third member prepared him or herself for the coming skirmish.

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Down below the twenty Kumo and Iwa shinobi were ready and waiting. While the Tsuchikage may have told the majority of the shinobi in their area to proceed to the main battlefield, she did tell them to stay on guard just the same in case the Konoha shinobi somehow stumble upon one of the other entrances. Their diligence paid off when they heard several loud crashes of wood. All of them knew what it meant seeing as the nearest wooden objects were the doors that led to the surface.

The area was dug in a way that all the doorways led to one section of the cave and an opening in all four general directions. The eastern and western openings led to a path to stone steps leading to the surface. The northern and southern openings led to one larger, circular, area where ten Iwa and Kumo shinobi were waiting in each side. The simple, but well thought out, design of the hideout made it easy to defend seeing as the enemy would were forced to gather in one spot upon entering and also be caught in a pincer from the very start.

Four of the six trapdoors above the gathering point flew open in a shower of splinters, an action that was quickly followed by three shinobi jumping down each opening. Before the first shinobi even hit the ground, a volley of kunai and shuriken were launched from one side followed by a volley from the other side. They managed to block the sharp weapons from one direction while the second shinobi that dropped down from each hole managed to block the second volley.

Just as the third shinobi from each of the four groups touched down, the other groups arrived via the other two openings to the area where the twelve Konoha shinobi landed. Dividing into two groups, each group faced the Iwa and Kumo shinobi and defended furiously, defending against both projectiles and ninjutsu.

At first it seemed like a stalemate with neither side able to even scratch a single shinobi of the opposing side. Then suddenly one Iwa-nin on each side summoned a wall of earth, blocking the two exits. "Earth Release:" came the voice from the other side of the wall. "Needle Eruption." From behind the wall, the Iwa and Kumo shinobi grinned. Even if the Konoha shinobi outnumbered them, being bombarded by spikes from every direction would definitely kill at least some of them and injure the rest.

When the attack ended and no sound came from within the sealed chamber, the Iwa-nin removed the wall but the group stayed alert just in case. But when the wall was completely gone their eyes went wide when they saw absolutely nothing. Other than the debris from the spikes and the various weapons lying around there wasn't a single sign of anyone being there. Neither a shred of clothing nor a drop of blood could be seen anywhere.

Before they could act upon this new information, the sound of crumbling rocks could be heard behind both groups. Before they could turn around fully, four Konoha shinobi had landed behind each group, stabbing those closest to them and killing eight of the twenty shinobi. Just as the six shinobi on either side turned around to face their opponents, the rest of the Konoha shinobi either dropped down the trapdoors or came out of the path leading to the surface, taking the enemy by surprise.

With their concentration shattered by the surprise attacks it took less than a minute to eliminate the rest of the Iwa and Kumo shinobi, leaving twenty dead bodies around the thirty-five Konoha shinobi. Looking around and seeing only one other way out Neji gestured for the team to follow him as he ran to the eastern side of the larger room where a path lay open before them. "Proceed carefully," he said, his Byakugan still active as he looked out for any traps set by the enemy.

Slowly, but surely progressing, the team carefully made their way through the stone path. It was just wide enough for two people to walk side-by-side and that would make it all the more dangerous to be caught by a trap or by an ambush. As they had discussed earlier a Hyuuga would lead, namely Neji, followed by an expert on taijutsu. A Hyuuga would also cover the rear and walking right behind him was Ranma.

While it was highly unlikely that they would be attacked along the way to the underground base, Neji was not one to take such risks especially when fighting underground where the Iwa-nin had the advantage of terrain. With Ranma guarding the rear it was very unlikely that someone could overpower him without the use of ninjutsu, something that would alert the Hyuuga in front of him before he could even finish forming the necessary handseals.

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While the infiltration team had begun their trek to the hidden fortress, the main battle was still going strong. Around and within the abandoned village that served to hide the main entrance to the underground fortress, men and women fought for supremacy over their enemies. Countless projectile weapons could be seen scattered across the battlefield, many coated with blood, others buried deep into a dead, or dying, human body while the remaining few were simply lying there.

Even the elements battled for supremacy. A large number of fireballs rained down on the enemy only to be doused by a spiraling vortex of water. Already weakened slightly from dousing the fireballs, the vortex did not stand a chance as a large dragon erupted from the earth and plowed right through, dispersing the technique and sending water raining down on the many warriors.

Yet in the end even a the mighty dragon of earth was destroyed as several bolts of lightning shot towards it, destroying the earthen dragon in mere seconds. Numerous bolts of lightning surged across the battlefield towards a lone man only to be diverted into the ground as the air in front of the man gyred wildly. The whirlwind shot forward, aimed to engulf its prey, only to encounter the maws of a fire dragon, one that grew stronger as the winds fuelled it's burning flame.

Standing amidst a myriad of highly trained killers was none other than Iwa's weapon, Satsuki. Around her lay the bodies of a score of Konoha shinobi, all dead before they could even attempt to attack her. Looking around, her eyes found her two main targets. To her left was none other than Naruto Uzumaki, the Rokudaime Hokage and her father's killer. To her right was a sight that caused her blood to boil and her anger to soar. He was the cause of all the humiliation she suffered while in Konoha and the cause of humiliation even among fellow Iwa shinobi when they learned of her stay in the opposing hidden village, Ranma Saotome.

She wanted to dash to her right and eliminate the one who had shamed her, yet her orders would not allow it. She had but one task given to her by the Tsuchikage and she will not fail. "Another time then," she whispered to herself as she watched Ranma knock out another Kumo-nin. She dashed towards the Hokage, hardening her body to the limit as she did so. 'This time,' she thought as she halved the distance between them, not noticing a red clad figure closing in from behind her. 'I will not fail.'

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"We're almost there," said Neji, the underground fortress entering his Byakugan's sight range.

Surprisingly their team had not encountered any traps or ambushes. And while it was a good thing, it also made Neji nervous. Surely someone like Shiori Koji, whose strategic ability is said to rival Shikamaru Nara's, would be better prepared in the event that someone manages to infiltrate their fortress the way they were now. He would not look the proverbial gift horse in the mouth, but that did not mean he would not look upon it with suspicion from time to time. With every step he took, he made doubly certain that there were no nearby traps.

Eventually, the path widened into a small cavern, just big enough for all of them to enter all at once. Opposite where they came from was another path where an orange light shone through. With their Byakugan, the Hyuuga clan members could see the large fortress that lay just beyond the short path along with the rope bridge that connected the path to a walkway on the side of the fortress.

"There are guards on the walkway," said Neji, stopping the group from proceeding into the path. "There's a rope bridge on the other end of the path but that would leave us open to attack."

"What now?" asked one of the shinobi in his group.

Carefully watching the fortress for any change, he said, "There are four guards, three Chuunin and one Jounin, on this walkway. There are other guards on the two walkways above us but they're guarding the exit from the other two entrances so we won't have to worry about them. Ranma."

"Yeah?" he replied.

"Take care of those four guards. Don't be seen."

There was general confusion amongst the shinobi gathered, save for three, when this was said. How was one person supposed to take out four shinobi without being seen or alerting the others? "Got it," replied Ranma before disappearing into thin air, causing surprise amongst the gathered shinobi.

"Genjutsu?" one of them asked while another one tried to dispel an illusion but nothing happened. "It's not a genjutsu then. Bloodline?"

They all turned to the one person they were sure was aware of what it was, the Hyuuga Clan Head. "An invisibility technique," he replied when his Byakugan eyes saw them turn to him in curiosity. "I won't share the details. It's not my technique to share after all."

The eleven possessors of the Byakugan watched closely as they could see a very faint trace of Chakra quickly making its way across the long wooden bridge. The four enemy shinobi were instantly more alert than before when they saw the bridge dip slightly from an unseen weight. All of them tried to dispel the illusion they assumed was there only for nothing to happen.

One was about to throw a handful of weapons across the bridge to hit whatever was obviously there when the weight disappeared and the bridged returned to its previous state. All four Iwa-nin looked around for the enemy, carefully listening for any sound that might give away the location of their unseen foe. When nothing happened, the three Chuunin relaxed, thinking it was just their paranoia acting up. The Jounin was about to tell them to stay alert but suddenly fell limp to the ground, obviously unconscious.

The three Chuunin turned to their leader and were about to call for aid when two more fell unconscious. The third Chuunin saw this, panicked, turned around, and ran for the entrance to the fortress only to run into a red clad figure that suddenly appeared out of nowhere. He quickly leapt back, his hand reaching into his weapon pouch out of instinct, and was about to let loose a volley of weapons when the pigtailed teen dashed forward and struck with one hand, gripping the man tightly by the shoulder. No more than a second later did he too, like his comrades, fall unconscious.

Once he saw the four enemy shinobi unconscious, Neji said to the team, "Cross the bridge with your respective groups quickly but silently. We'll go first while the rest of you wait for my signal then proceed to cross one group at a time." Checking with his Byakugan to make sure that there were no enemy shinobi in view of the bridge, his group of five swiftly crossed the bridge to rejoin Ranma. The four members of his team examined the four fallen shinobi and transformed into them, taking their place at the end of the bridge.

Checking with his Byakugan once more, Neji then signaled the Hyuuga in the other teams and soon three more masked shinobi were running towards them. He repeated this again and again, confirming that there were no enemy shinobi that could see the bridge they were crossing before signaling another group to cross, until all thirty-five were on the tower's outer walkway.

"Alright, do you all have the seals?" he asked the ten groups of three, to which a member form each group held up the specially made explosive seal they were given. "Good. You all know your designated areas so proceed swiftly but with caution. The less we have to fight the sooner we can finish. And the sooner we finish, the sooner the fighting ends."

"Right," came the collective answer before the thirty of them rushed into the tower while Neji and his team stayed by the entrance to protect their escape route.

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Inside the tower, Ranma, Kotoko, and the third member of their team, a Konoha Jounin by the name of Kotaro, ran down the tower's spiraling stairs with two more groups behind them. As quite possibly the strongest team out of the ten teams they were tasked with setting a seal in one of the lower areas of the tower along with two other teams. They soon reached their designated level of the tower, just five levels above the lowest, and the three teams separated, each going to their own designated area of that floor.

Traveling to the north side of the tower in silence, the trio of Ranma, Kotoko, and Kotaro silently searched the area for their target room. "Not this one either," muttered Kotoko as she inspected the three doors closest to them before they moved on. "Where is it?" she hissed impatiently.

His curiosity piqued, Ranma asked, "What are you looking for anyway?"

"Before the spies were discovered, they marked our targets by carving the symbol of Konoha on the doors," she explained after making sure that there were no enemy shinobi nearby. "They carved them on the inner side of the door so it can only be seen when the door is open wide enough to reveal the side that's normally covered by the door frame, or by someone with the Byakugan."

"Wouldn't something like that be hard to find even with the Byakugan?"

"The group of Hyuuga with us have the most highly trained Byakugan among all the others. We'll be able to see it so long as we stay focused on the task of looking for it."

Five minutes later Kotoko let out a relieved, "Finally," upon finding the marked door. What she saw inside, however, was something unexpected. Inside the room were two Chuunin along with at least five unopened barrels. "Ranma," she whispered. "There are two Chuunin inside. I'll need you to take them out quickly. Don't disturb the barrels inside. I've got a bad feeling about them. There aren't any shinobi nearby asides from them but try not to make too much noise just the same."

Ranma nodded, took a deep breath, and began forming handseals. He walked forward when he finished and, from Kotoko's and Kotaro's point of view, disappeared a few feet from the door.

Inside the room, Ranma stood within the confines of the illusion, quietly shutting the door so as not to hint at his presence. In front of him, unaware of the Genjutsu placed on the door, were the two Chuunin just as Kotoko said. Ranma quickly dashed towards them, catching the two Chuunin by surprise when he appeared out of nowhere, and knocked them out with a single blow each. "All clear."

Both Kotoko and Kotaro entered the room and while Kotaro stood guard by the door, Kotoko went over to the barrels. She opened one and silently examined the contents. Not knowing what it was, she walked over to the other four barrels and one by one opened them only to find the same content as the first. "What is it?" asked Ranma.

Ignoring her companion's question, Kotoko turned on her radio. "Uncle," she whispered into the small microphone beside her lips. "Something's come up."

"I know," came the reply into her ears. "Three other teams just reported in as well. They've each found barrels of black powder in all the rooms we're targeting so far. The two teams on the higher levels didn't encounter anything like it and reported in fine so it might just be in the lower levels."

"Gunpowder."

"Hold on," she said then turned to the one who spoke. "What did you call it Ranma?"

"Gunpowder."

Kotoko blinked. "What's a gun?"

"Well… that might be a little hard to explain," he replied, having forgotten for a moment that guns were non-existent in the shinobi world. "But basically gunpowder is the same thing used in fireworks and explosives. Not surprising you don't know since you guys just use explosive seals but these things will explode with a single spark."

Hearing all this caused Kotoko to panic and she quickly contacted Neji once more. "Uncle, we might have a problem. The powder, it explodes with the smallest spark."

"What?" Kotoko repeated what she had just heard from Ranma and Neji listened, carefully calculating how it would affect their plan. "With the addition of this gunpowder the explosion might become too strong and the tower might collapse before all our men can escape. We'll have to resort to plan B then."

"We have a plan B?" she asked, only hearing about the existence of a contingency plan at that moment.

"Well, if you have another idea to bring this tower down then I'm listening. Because otherwise we might be forced to abandon this plan."

"No," came an unexpected voice through the radio. Strangely enough, Ranma heard the voice as well. "Continue with the plan. This might be our only chance to destroy this tower. Its destruction will destroy the enemy's morale as well at their inability to defend their fortress when they already have the advantage. We'll just have to sound the retreat earlier than expected."

"Dad?" Kotoko nearly yelled out loud upon realizing that the masked man known as Kotaro was the one speaking. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, I knew that the Tsuchikage would be here so I sent Ranma just in case. What I didn't know would be if Satsuki would be at the frontlines or if she would be defending the tower so I came along just in case both of them were here."

"Well, Satsuki's up with the main force just so you know," replied Ranma before he winced and grabbed his left shoulder. "And she just stabbed my clone in the shoulder with a kunai. Don't know whether I should be glad they don't disappear after one hit. She's been fighting my clone for the past fifteen minutes making sure she didn't get to your decoy."

"Decoy?!" Kotoko repeated in shock as she turned to her father. "You didn't." Upon seeing the guilty look on her father's face, she groaned. "Mom's going to kill you when she finds out what you did."

"Don't worry, she won't," he replied confidently.

"She just did," interjected Ranma. "My clone just saw her smack your decoy on the head and drag him away by the ear." This statement caused the visible parts of Naruto's face to turn pale. "If you need a place to stay for the night, please stay away from my apartment. I don't need to get in the middle of more problems," he said, causing Kotoko to giggle. But then, his face suddenly turned serious. "Someone just spoke to Satsuki. She's running back towards the tower along with the Iwa and Kumo army."

"So that's their plan," whispered the blonde. "She's planning to destroy this tower while we're inside. She's luring us in. But if that's the way she wants to play then let's play. Kotoko, plant the seal. Neji," he said through the microphone. "Have everyone proceed with the plan. After the seals are activated, have everyone evacuate. Also, seal any and all exits they pass through to make sure the enemy can't escape as well."

"Understood."

"Isn't that going a bit too far?" questioned Ranma, concerned for the lives that may be lost.

"It doesn't matter what you think," replied Naruto. "This is war and the only way to end it is for one side to be defeated completely."

Before the usual argument could begin, Naruto and Kotoko heard Neji's voice through their radios. "All the seals are in place. Everyone, report in." One by one the teams called back to the Hyuuga Clan Head until Kotoko, as leader of the tenth team, called in as well. "Good. Teams 6 to 10, activate your seals in five seconds. Four, three, two, one, now."

Kotoko focused her Chakra into the seal and watched as the seal glowed an angry red.

No sooner had she done so did the countdown begin again for the next seal. "Five, four, three, two, one, now." Again and again this was repeated until the sixth to tenth seals had been activated and the ten-minute countdown had begun. "All teams proceed to the evacuation point. Seal off all other exits on your way out to prevent the enemy from escaping."

Having done their job, Naruto, still wearing his mask, Kotoko, and Ranma, left the room as well. On their way to the stairs, they met up with the other two teams on their level and all three teams proceeded up towards their escape route. Two minutes later all ten teams were reunited and continued to run up the stairs.

Along the way to their exit, however, they were spotted by a group of Kumo shinobi as they ran past an open door. Not noticing them, the thirty Konoha and Suna shinobi continued to run past them. One of the Kumo shinobi, seeing the group, formed handseals and shot out several bolts of lightning from his hand.

Kotoko, due to her still activated bloodline, saw this and stopped abruptly. Just as the shinobi in front of her ran past the door, the bolts of lightning shot out of the door and blasted through the wall opposite the door, alerting the Konoha and Suna shinobi to the presence of the enemy. "Go on," Kotoko yelled to their companions, who had stopped to face the threat. "We'll take care of this."

The others nodded and continued up the stairs while Kotoko, Ranma, and Naruto rushed through the open door and engaged the four Kumo shinobi. With the combination of strength from Kotoko, Naruto, and Ranma, the four Chuunin never stood a chance and were knocked out or killed in seconds. But the sounds of their battle were loud enough that several more shinobi came running to discover the reason for the noise. The trio quickly took care of the enemy shinobi as they came searching but one of them managed to finish the handseals for one technique. "Earth Release: Multiple Sealing Earth Technique." As soon as he finished a kunai found its way into his thigh, causing him to fall to the ground.

Right behind the trio a thick wall of earth slid into place from the wall, sealing away their exit. "Move," Kotoko said to her companions as another wall slid out of the wall, passing no more than an inch away from Ranma's face. "There are two more. Move!"

The trio jumped away just as the other two earth walls appeared and prevented them from leaving the way they came. "Stand back," ordered Naruto, a sphere of spiraling Chakra appearing in his hand.

He thrust forward with the sphere in hand to destroy the obstacle only for a yell to stop him in his track, "Dad! Stop!" The warning came none too soon as the sphere stopped inches away from the wall. "The wall's made with a mixture of earth and the gunpowder we saw earlier. It's hard to tell how much they used but there's definitely a lot of it."

"Damn," cursed the Hokage as he allowed his technique to fade. "Looks like we'll have to find another way out. I doubt this staircase is the only way up or down." Naruto informed Neji of their situation and told him that under no circumstances was he to send someone to search for them unless they were still missing after the battle. "Alright," he said to his daughter and Ranma. "Let's start searching. We only have about five minutes until the first explosion so we better hurry."

And search they did. Ranma, Naruto, and Kotoko all created several clones to aid in the search, splitting up in groups of three to try and find another way up the tower. Barely a minute later one of the clone teams had found the exit and sent the information back to their creators, who went running for newly discovered staircase. They ran up several levels until the stairs ended, leading them out to a large room.

"This must be a training room," commented Kotoko when she saw all the weapons lined up along the walls. "I can't believe they had a hideout so large. If we found this the first time around it might have changed things a lot. We might have ended the war sooner."

"Maybe. But if you think about it we wouldn't have been able to do anything about it. Counting the two major battles we've had so far we only lost close to thirty men while we lost hundreds the first time. Numbers may not make up for quality, but numbers still count for something." Shaking himself from his musings of the past, he said, "We better go. How far below are we?"

"We've already gone up fifteen levels from where we planted the seal so we only have four more to go," replied his daughter as the trio approached the door.

"Alright. Let's hurry. We only have less than a minute before-"

"Before what?" asked a calm voice. Surprised by the newcomer's voice, all three of them spun around to find another door to the side open. Walking through the door were none other than Shiori Koji and Satsuki, the Tsuchikage and her weapon. "Satsuki, did you not say that both Uzumaki and Saotome were on the battlefield?"

"Yes," replied Satsuki, slightly puzzled as to how those two were now standing in front of her. "Saotome engaged me in combat therefore I was unable to engage Uzumaki in combat. Perhaps he was a decoy if that was the case, his son perhaps. Although I cannot say for certain how Saotome is now here."

"I see. Well regardless of that, they are here now and it certainly does explain why our plan has yet to be set into motion. Let us-"

The sound of a loud explosion was suddenly heard, cutting off what the Tsuchikage was about to say, and the resulting shockwave from the explosion knocked many of the shinobi inside the building off their feet. Before the Tsuchikage could even comment of the first explosion another explosion, significantly weaker than the first, was heard below them. Four more followed soon after, each one causing the building to shake violently. Thankfully the tower still remained standing but none of them knew for how much longer.

Once that had passed Shiori got back to her feet, watching Ranma and the others do the same. Eyes narrowing in suspicion, she said, "So that was your plan. It seems your strategist and I came up with the same strategy for this battle."

"So I was right. Then that black powder in the rooms below…"

"Correct. I was going to use them to destroy this tower once I've lured you in and trapped you inside, just as you were planning to do to me it would seem."

"And instead both of us are now here instead of just one."

"However, only one of us will leave here alive. I'll deal with Uzumaki myself. Satsuki, I want you to take care of the other two. Also, you have my permission to use it."

Satsuki nodded and dashed towards the trio alongside the Tsuchikage. Naruto dashed forward to meet the Tsuchikage, allowing Satsuki to run past him towards Ranma and Kotoko. Kotoko was about to drop into a stance when Ranma turned to her and said, "I'll handle this. I know how she fights better than you do."

"Ranma," she said warningly.

"Don't worry, this time I'm going to win. I'm Ranma Saotome after all." Having said that, Ranma blurred forward and engaged Satsuki in combat.

"Don't you remember what happened last time?" asked Satsuki as she easily dodged a punch and snapped a kick towards Ranma's face only to have it dodged just as easily. "You should have let her help you. Maybe then you would have stood a chance against me."

"…"

"What? Nothing to say this time?"

"Even if I said what I wanted to say to you I doubt you'd listen. Let's fight first. Then we can talk."

Behind Ranma, Kotoko activated her Byakugan and watched both Ranma's and Naruto's fight with Satsuki and Shiori respectively. Normally she would have been able to fight Satsuki one-on-one but at the rate her Chakra capacity was growing her Chakra control wasn't enough for her to use her Gentle Fist as well as she would have wanted. Therefore she now had to hope that Naruto and Ranma were able to fight their respective opponents well enough that she would not need to intervene.

She watched as Ranma kept Satsuki busy as he created a clone. The clone went around and was prepared to attack Satsuki when Kotoko spotted something that caused her to widen her eyes. 'H-How?' She thought in shock. The more rational part of her mind soon took over once more and she called out the warning. "Ranma look out! She has-"

Whatever she was going to say came too late as Satsuki ducked beneath Ranma's kick, spun around, and delivered a heavy palm strike to the clone that attempted to sneak up on her. The clone flew back and smashed through the wall, landing on the hallway floor just outside the room where it turned into wisps of Chi and dissipated into the air. The sound of shattering wood caught the attention of Shiori and Naruto, who grinned and widened their eyes respectively.

"How could she have that?" Naruto whispered in shock upon seeing Satsuki's face, his eyes wide and face slightly pale. "Not a single one was captured and those that were killed still had them when the body was retrieved. How?"

"Think back Uzumaki, who was the only person among them who died and was missing that particular body part? It doesn't take a genius to figure it out. After all, that was the day nearly every village leader was killed along with their escorts."

If it was possible Naruto's eyes widened even further upon realizing who it was Shiori was speaking of. "So this is what Orochimaru used them for," he whispered as he got a better look at Satsuki's eyes. Unlike her formerly crimson eyes, her eyes were now completely pale like those of a deactivated Byakugan.

"Correct," replied Shiori. "She not only possesses the Crystal Skin Bloodline of the Mutsumi, but thanks to a donor from Konoha she also has a Hyuuga Clan's famed Byakugan. And not just any Byakugan, but the Byakugan of Hiashi Hyuuga, the most developed Byakugan in recent history."

Not really too concerned over how she got the Byakugan, Ranma re-engaged Satsuki in combat at a speed significantly faster than before. Satsuki easily kept up but was inwardly surprised at Ranma's sudden burst of speed. She was aware that Ranma's female form was faster than his male form but comparing this with her previous fight she concluded that Ranma was moving as fast as his female form.

"What's wrong Satsuki-chan?" Ranma asked with a grin. "Having trouble keeping up? Maybe you weren't as strong as I thought you were."

Satsuki growled. How dare he underestimate her? Did he not remember the last time they fought? 'Well, I'll just have to remind him of what happened last time.' She broke away from Ranma and started forming handseals. She expected him to follow after to stop her but instead started forming handseals of his own. "Armor of Invulnerability," she whispered just as Ranma finished his handseals. She watched him inhale deeply and, having seen the series of handseals, recognized the technique immediately. 'Does he honestly think a Drilling Air Bullet would pierce my armor? Well, I won't let him find out.'

Ranma soon spat out a globe of wind spinning at high speed like a drill and Satsuki waited until the last moment before she dodged. She was ready to rush Ranma when she heard the telltale sound of the technique hitting someone followed by a grunt. Her Byakugan eyes widened when she saw and realized what had happened. 'The technique was never meant for me. He was planning on hitting Shiori-sama the whole time. If I hadn't dodged he probably would have attacked me while I blocked the attack.'

Shiori was thinking along the same lines as she grasped her arm, which she had used to block the attack when she sensed its approach. 'That boy is far more dangerous than I thought. Aiming at Satsuki when in truth he was aiming at me.' A grin appeared on her face that belied her worry. 'Now there's an idea. But first to finish my fight.'

"I hope you enjoyed that," said Satsuki. "Because that will be the last time I'll let you do something like that. With my Byakugan I will make sure you don't."

"Pretty big talk for a kid," replied Ranma. "Come on then, let's see how well you can use those fancy eyes of yours."

Two clones formed beside Ranma, both wearing the same grin on their faces, and together with the real one charged towards Satsuki. Satsuki was unable to tell the difference between the real one and the clones even with the Byakugan but charged forward nonetheless, confident in her victory regardless of how many clones he made.

Satsuki quickly found herself overwhelmed by the three Ranmas. The pain from the attacks significantly lessened by her hardened skin but still strong enough to sting. Ranma's superior fighting ability was soon proving to be too much for her to take, especially from three of him instead of just one. In her mind she knew that there was only one way she could win without resorting to the Eight Gates. Ninjutsu.

She ignored all the punches and kicks that were coming her way and punched the ground beneath her, causing all three of her opponents to move away. She started forming handseals as quickly as she could and finished just as Ranma realized what she was doing. "Fire Release: Infernal Whip." Flames quickly burst to life around her hands and lengthened until they were each twice the length of her arm.

Satsuki lashed out with one arm, forcing the Ranma that was running towards her to jump, then lashed out with the other towards the airborne Ranma's head. He twisted out of the way quite easily and avoided the following attacks just as easily. Just as Satsuki was about to attack again she spun around with one whip and forced another Ranma to leap away. The other whip found the arm of Ranma and she grinned. The grin, however, faded away when she realized the whip wasn't burning him like she expected.

Ranma grinned back, knowing why she as confused but stayed silent. Winding the whip around his arm until it grew taut, he grasped it with both hands and gave a hard tug. Surprised that he managed to grab her whip with his bare hands she was unable to react when she was pulled towards him. She whipped her other arm back to strike when the other Ranma clone grabbed the other whip and held it taut. Her forward momentum stopped she found herself held a few inches off the ground by the whips.

The real Ranma stood ahead of her, not that she was aware that it was the real one, his cupped hands in front of him facing each other. No longer was she shocked that he managed to grab hold of her whips but instead she was shocked by what was between his cupped hands. A small orb of white energy was settled in between his hands, slowly growing in size until it filled up the gap between his hands.

He moved his hands from the sides of the orb to behind it, lunged forward and pushed the white ball of energy away from him and towards Satsuki. The two seconds it took to reach Satsuki slowed down as her eyes widened in recognition and a bit of fear.

Her mind flashed back to Ranma's fight during the preliminary battles of the Chuunin exam. She remembered seeing it, the same white ball of energy, as it rushed past the examiner and towards the woman she knew as Yoshiko Toriumi, who had gone with the Tsuchikage under the false name of Akane Tendo. The sheer power behind the attack as it completely destroyed the large steel hammer, leaving nothing more than shards of metal, was nothing short of amazing.

'If it did that to a steel battle hammer, what more to a human body?' she asked herself as the attack slowly drew closer inch by inch, taunting her inability to avoid it. 'Looks like I'm about to find out. At the very least, I no longer have to suffer; to fear the pain from my seal with my failures.'

Just as she had accepted her death, she was literally jolted from her thoughts when she felt herself suddenly rising into the air, the ball of white energy passing beneath her. With the Byakugan she saw that it was the two Ranma clones that had launched her into the air via her whips. Though she was unable to turn her head around completely, the Byakugan allowed her to see where the ball was headed. All thoughts of why Ranma had spared her again disappeared as her mind and body screamed out loud, "Shiori-sama, move!"

Though the warning had come just in time, she was unable to immediately act due to Naruto's presence and by the time she managed to turn around to see what it was the attack was no more than a few feet away. The moment contact was made, the ball exploded and the force behind it sent her flying back towards and through the wall of the training room and out into the hallway.

"You can use Chi again?" Kotoko asked Ranma in shock, having forgotten that Ranma's clones were made by Chi as well.

"You broke through the barrier?" Naruto asked at the same time, caught by surprise when the white ball of Chi blasted his opponent away.

"What?" he asked with a cheeky grin. "Did you guys really expect anything else?"

"That's quite a powerful attack you have," said the Tsuchikage. Everyone turned to where she was standing, opposite the direction where she flew. "If not for a simple replacement technique I would probably be dead already."

"Not really," Ranma replied. "Ryoga and I used to blast each other around with these and we're still alive."

"Ranma," growled the Hokage. "You don't tell the enemy that kind of information."

"What? It's true. Besides, I don't wanna be known as a killer just 'coz she thought I've killed lots of people with a chi blast. Ryoga's a hothead but even he wouldn't go throwing around chi blasts if there were civilians around."

"You don't understand what I'm saying at all," muttered the blonde with his head down in defeat.

Both Shiori and Satsuki took advantage of their opponent's momentary lack of awareness and charged their respective opponents, the latter canceling her technique due to its uselessness against the pigtailed martial artist. The only difference this time was that Satsuki forced Ranma out into the hallway and to another side of the tower where he couldn't attack Shiori.

"Tell me something," said Satsuki once they were far enough. "All those things you did while I was in Konoha, why did you do it? Why would you do such a thing for an enemy shinobi?"

"I went through something similar to what you went through," replied Ranma. "Because of that I didn't get the chance to have a normal childhood. Heck, even the kids at the academy here have a somewhat normal childhood. At least they could play and be carefree before they graduate. Even after they do, they can still find the time to enjoy themselves. Me?" he asked despondently. "I never had that chance. Pops kept me training almost all the time when I was a kid. Sometimes I wasn't even aware that I was training because I was too tired already."

"You asked me why I did those things for you. I did it because I thought that you deserved a normal childhood, especially since I knew that you would just go back to fighting some day. It's the way you and I are; the only way of life we've really known. It was short but hey, at least I saw you smile more than enough times to make up for those three years of non-stop training they gave you."

"I stopped caring about what people thought of me months ago so I don't care if you hate me for doing it. It's just the way I am I guess. Just about everyone I've met before coming to Konoha have tried to kill me at some point, or at least threatened to kill me, and we all get along from time to time. Another one won't really matter."

"Then I hope you're ready. I'm going to do what all those people have failed to do. Today, I will kill you."

"Don't forget who you're talking to here," he replied with his trademark grin. "I'm Ranma Saotome. And Ranma Saotome doesn't lose. Not when it counts."

What would come to pass the next fifteen minutes was a fight unlike anything Ranma or Satsuki have ever fought. Whereas Ranma greatest fight to date, his fight against Saffron, was comparable to the age-old Bible tale of David battling Goliath, his fight against Satsuki was like two Goliaths battling it out. Two fighters with immense skill and power fighting with everything they have to defeat the other.

All around them flames caused by the earlier explosions have spread and both of them knew that combined with the damage from the earlier explosions, it wouldn't be long until the tower finally collapsed. And everyone still inside would either be killed or heavily injured. This realization only caused both of them to fight harder than ever.

Satsuki avoided using ninjutsu the moment she saw the flames, not wanting to cause any more unnecessary damage to the tower before she and the Tsuchikage could leave. Instead she now relied solely on her two bloodlines and her own fighting ability.

Ranma was also in a similar predicament. His chi attacks were too destructive and due to the state of the tower it would only cause the tower to fall sooner. The use of clones was lost to him as he allowed his instincts to take over, relying it and his experience to combat Satsuki's superior speed. He could barely feel the pain from Satsuki's strikes, his open access to his Chi allowing him to cushion the blows much like her Crystal Body bloodline.

Their Chakra or Chi, both in Ranma's case, was being used solely to better their performance; increase their speed and strength to levels no human body should be capable of. Both of them knew, however, that it wouldn't last very long. In a fight as even as this it only took one mistake to make a difference and whoever made that mistake would pay for it through defeat.

It was Satsuki that made that fatal error when she heard a yell coming from the side. "Shiori-sama," she whispered and was about to rush off to find out what had happened when Ranma capitalized on her lack of attention. Even with her own Byakugan she was far too distracted to notice Ranma rushing up to her until it was too late.

"Never take your attention away from your opponent," Ranma commented before landing a palm strike to her abdomen.

The first thing Satsuki noticed about the attack was that it was far weaker than before and that she barely felt it. That thought barely lasted a second when she felt something rush into her and she hunched down in pain. 'What is this?' she asked herself as she was struck with another palm strike to the same area. 'I feel no pain from the impact but then I suddenly feel as though I'd been hit without my Armor.'

The pain she felt was so great that she was unable to properly react as Ranma continued to rain down attacks on her from every angle. Within moments every inch of her body hurt like never before and she was unable to move as she lay on her back on the ground. "What… What was that just now?" she gasped out through the pain.

"The Gentle Fist," replied Ranma, causing Satsuki's pale eyes to widen. "Or rather, my version of it."

"The Gentle Fist…" she repeated, clearly not convinced. "I find it… hard to believe that the Hyuuga… would teach you their style."

"That's because they didn't teach me, not directly anyway. I just watched them when they fought and copied what they were doing. The difference is that they use Chakra while I use Chi and with the Byakugan they can seal of your Chakra points, something I can't do."

"You… just watched?" she asked in disbelief. For a moment both of them were silent, neither one saying anything to the other even as the tower continued to burn and, occasionally, shake as the lower parts of the tower continued to fall apart. Then the silence was broken by a laugh. It was low at first but then it grew until Satsuki was laughing out loud. The laugh, however, was not one of joy or mirth. "I was wrong," she admitted once she stopped, her pale eyes returning to their normal crimson colored irises. "Between us, you are the superior fighter. Perhaps I already knew this before but I simply did not want to believe it; that the power I have is inferior to another besides the Tsuchikage and the Raikage."

"You brought about my defeat the first time and now you have defeated me with your own hands," said Satsuki, forcing herself into a sitting position despite the pain she felt with every movement. "Shiori-sama will not overlook my defeat this time. Had it been Uzumaki who defeated me then perhaps my fate would be different. But then again, I am glad that it was you who defeated me. At least now my suffering can end," she said, her eyes showing her pain instead of her anger that Ranma had become accustomed to seeing.

"Suffering? What do you mean?"

"I doubt you'd understand. But in the end, I am nothing more than a slave, a tool, to the Tsuchikage and the Raikage. A blunt tool that is beyond repair is best thrown away. But even a piece of trash may have some usefulness. All that remains useful to her now would be my eyes. I will undoubtedly die for my failures and my eyes, the prized Byakugan of the Hyuuga Clan, will be given to the Raikage to be studied and replicated."

"So why don't you leave?"

"I can't. I have been branded as Shiori-sama's slave until the day I die. Nothing I do can change that."

Ranma looked down at the disheartened girl with pitying eyes. To live as a slave only to die was not a kind of problem he was accustomed to hearing about nor was it something he had ever experienced. And he prayed that he would never have to experience it, or hear about it again. He knelt down next to her and whispered something to her, causing her eyes to widen. He stood once he was done and gave her a small smile. "Whatever happens and whatever you decide to do, don't forget that."

Just then another explosion rocked the burning tower, one much more powerful than the initial explosion caused by the seals, causing the entire tower to shake violently. "What was that?" Ranma asked, mostly to himself. "I thought all that gunpowder was gone."

"Gunpowder?"

"That black powder in the barrels."

Satsuki suddenly paled and her eyes grew wide in horror. "You have to leave. Now!"

"What?"

"There is an underground passage beneath this tower that was to serve as our evacuation point. There are at least twenty more barrels there of the same black powder. It was to be taken to the village as we made our escape to be used in any future battles. But it seems that the fire has made it to the barrels before anyone could move it. The tower will surely fall soon."

"In that case let's go," he said, crouching down to pick her up.

"What are you doing?" she asked in surprise when she found herself on Ranma's back once more. "Just leave me."

"You wanna die?"

"It's either death or more suffering. I've made my choice so leave me here."

"I can't do that," Ranma replied sternly as he began to run, praying that Naruto and Kotoko would be fine. He would have gone back for them but two things stopped him. One was that Naruto might react badly to him saving Satsuki, and two would be the Tsuchikage, whose current condition was unknown to him.

"Why do you insist on saving me?" she asked him. "By saving me you would just return me to Shiori-sama, to my suffering."

"Everyone is sometimes placed in a situation where everything seems hopeless or where you might just want to kill yourself to end your suffering. The best way to get through is to remember that there will always be someone who will miss you if you die. There are people in Konoha waiting for me so I can't die just yet, not that I'd just die even if they weren't expecting me back. Even my friends and family back home are waiting for me even if some might not be happy about my return. Though they don't show it, I know that some of them worry about me."

"I can't say I understand your reasoning as there is nobody for me to return to. A weapon does not need someone to care for it, only keep it sharp and useful. Uzumaki and the Raikage would be happy. Uzumaki has one less threat to his village, and the Raikage would finally obtain the Byakugan. Nobody would be saddened by my death."

Ranma then stopped, turned to face her, gave her a sad smile and said, "I would."

Satsuki's eyes widened at those words. 'Why?' she asked herself, unable to bring herself to say it out loud. 'Why would he be saddened by my death? He has already fulfilled the promise he made to himself and I can't think of any reason he should care for me. So why?'

Satsuki opened her mouth to ask the question when someone else spoke before her. "My, such a touching moment. It's almost a shame to interrupt it. However, I am a shinobi and thus such emotion is lost on me."

Ranma looked around in surprise, wondering where the voice was coming from. Satsuki activated her Byakugan and searched as well, finding the owner of the voice in a second. Before she could utter a warning bolts of lightning burst through the wall to Ranma's right and struck him in various places. Before he could recover, a man dashed out from the adjacent room and attacked Ranma with a lightning covered palm.

Ranma managed to toss Satsuki aside before the palm struck him. He screamed out in pain as lightning coursed throughout his entire body for what seemed like an eternity. Finally it ended, and he fell to the ground, numb and twitching every few moments. The last thing he was before he lost consciousness was the sight of an old man wearing the robes of a Kage standing over him.

_END CHAPTER 1_

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	29. Arc 3 Chapter 2

Terms of Engagement

By Overlord of Order and Overlord of Chaos

**SUMMARY: What if many of the on-goings involving Genma and Nodoka was all a hoax? What if most of what they've said was a lie? What reason could they have to lie to so many people? What does it have to do with Ranma's future?**

**Sorry for taking so long with this new chapter. This chapter is only about half as long as the usual chapters but hopefully as good as previous chapters. And to make up for the slow update, we added a little something at the end. Hope you like it.**

_Arc 3: World of the Amaranthine War_

_Chapter 2: The Prisoner_

"WHAT?" A loud, heavy thud echoed throughout the entire room along with the sound of cracking wood. Everyone in the room, including the hidden guards, winced and silently wished the Jounin all the luck in the world. The group of twenty Suna and Konoha shinobi gathered in the War Room were the appointed leaders during the recent battle three days ago and the Jounin standing in front was from the group sent to retrieve dead bodies and search for anything else that may either give away their secrets of their village or help them in any way.

The body of every Konoha shinobi, who failed to report back after the battle, was accounted for. Some were dead while others were found unconscious or incapable of moving. All, that is, except for one. "Are you telling me that you've searched every inch of the tower's remains and even the surrounding area and you haven't found a single trace of Ranma?"

"Y-Yes sir," replied one of the Jounin. "But I believe we can safely assume that he is alive," he continued quickly before the Hokage decided to release the anger he had been holding back so far. "All the bodies amongst the tower's remains that we found and examined were either Kumo or Iwa shinobi, discounting the few bodies of fellow Konoha shinobi we recovered. None of them, however, belonged to Saotome-san so the chance that he is still alive is very high."

"I see," replied the irate Hokage. On the surface it seemed as though his anger had subsided, at least partially, but a select few in the tent could see that he was barely containing it.

'This isn't good,' he thought, running through his mind whatever possible event could have caused Ranma's disappearance. None of them looked good. 'We didn't lose a lot during the battle but neither did they so we can't let our guard down just yet. Most of the people who could search for him are either protecting the village until we get back or needed at the front lines.'

He sighed, knowing that there was only one thing he could do. "Call off the search." The Jounin blinked and stared at Naruto as though wondering if he had heard correctly. "You heard me, call off the search," repeated Naruto. "If he's alive then he'll be back. He's not the kind of person to just lie down and die. For now we have to return to the village in case Kumo and Iwa decide to attack us there. Have everyone prepare to return. We'll leave at noon. Dismissed."

"Yes sir." And with that the Jounin left along with most of the shinobi in the room. Once they had cleared out only two people were left in the room.

"You know where he might be don't you?" questioned the lazy strategist.

"Of course I do. He's alive, there's no doubt about that, but he hasn't returned and it's been three days already. At this point there are only three possibilities left open but considering it's Ranma we're talking about one of those is already out of the question." He sighed, his face reflecting the sight of a man much older than he was. "Between the other two one seems highly unlikely. So we can only hope he gets back alive."

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"How is he?" Ranma heard a woman's voice ask from the other side of the door.

"He woke up early this morning and tried to leave. He tried to break down the door so we had to knock him out and move him to the special cell as well as chain him to the wall," was the reply of a man's voice. "We've also placed four Chakra Suppressing seals on his body to prevent another escape attempt."

"Four?"

"That's right. The first two did nothing and he nearly escaped again after blasting us away from him with Chakra alone. Another one was placed and he attempted to blast us away again but it wasn't nearly as strong as the first one. The fourth was just a precaution."

"I see. I'm impressed he managed to find the strength to try and escape so soon considering we've had him heavily sedated since his capture. It seems the report about his being resistant to the effects of our sedatives wasn't exaggerated after all. And to be able to release Chakra, even a small amount, with three suppression seals is quite a feat. He must have quite a lot of Chakra to spare. Anything else?"

"Even though he just recovered he's still strong. As you probably saw on the way here, the door to the cell he was in earlier was nearly blasted off its hinges from when he punched it earlier and we suspect that he wasn't nearly at full strength at that time so I suggest either placing more guards or limiting him further in some way. Also…"

"Also?" the woman prompted, wondering what caused the shinobi to hesitate.

"Well, I could have just been seeing things but he seemed to glow white when he was trying to break free."

"Interesting," said the woman. "Well, for now open the door. I'm going to speak with him."

There was no vocal reply but the sound of a heavy metal door opening along with a stream of light entering the room was all Ranma needed to know that the woman's command was followed. Two people entered the room, one smaller and lighter than the other, and stopped just a few feet in front of him. The door was shut soon after, engulfing the room in near total darkness once more. The only light in the cell came in through the small opening on the door behind the two other people in his cell.

"So," he began now that the door was closed. "What now? Gonna brag about how you captured me and how hopeless my situation is?"

"And where, might I ask, did you get such an idea?" asked the taller woman, whose voice was easily recognized by Ranma as the Tsuchikage's.

"Well, that's what usually happens in movies," he replied as though the answer was already obvious.

"To do so would be pointless. However, I do have some questions for you if you don't mind."

"Only if I get to ask questions of my own."

"Do you really think Shiori-sama would-" snapped the smaller figure in an all too familiar voice only to be cut off by the Tsuchikage, who held out an arm to the side, silencing the girl.

"Let him Satsuki," she said to the young girl. "I see no harm in trading knowledge provided that he doesn't ask about certain things. Go on then," Shiori said to Ranma.

"Hey Satsuki," called out Ranma, giving her a cocky grin. "Maybe you should go out and play for a while. Us grown-ups have some complicated business to talk about."

Satsuki didn't even bother responding to his jibes and merely looked towards Shiori out of the corner of her eye. A tiny nod was all she needed to see before she turned around, opened the door, and left, closing the door behind her. "Before you ask your question let me ask you something. Why did you want Satsuki to leave?"

Ranma remained silent but the grin disappeared from his face and a serious look appeared in its place. "What did Satsuki mean," he began, "When she said that she was nothing more than a slave to you until she died?"

"Were those her words?" asked the brown haired woman, to which Ranma replied with a nod. "Normally I'd punish her for saying such private things to another but I'll let it go this time seeing as you won't live to tell anyone else. As to your question, what she said is exactly what she meant. She will either serve me or face the punishment. She has experienced that punishment once already and since then she's never disobeyed or displeased me enough that I would have to punish her again."

"Not even when she's lost two fights because of me and failed to kill me that one time?"

"The first time I heard of you I first believed that she was useless for losing because of you," Shiori admitted with a slight nod. "But after reassessing the situation after watching you fight and after our brief fight during the Chuunin exams I admit I was mistaken. Not only that but I recently discovered the fact that you could defeat Uzumaki so long as he refrains from utilizing the power of the demon within him."

"Heard about that huh?"

"Such is the life of shinobi. Though many shinobi try to hide their true power, someone will eventually notice and soon word will spread like fire in a forest. And as they say, walls have ears. And these ears that heard about you just so happen to belong to a shinobi under my command."

"And now I'm guessing this is the part where you try to get me on your side."

"Once again, you're incorrect. I already know the answer just by looking at your eyes. You're strong, far too strong to be broken by normal means. And since I have no knowledge of your friends or family outside of Konoha it would be useless to threaten them or to use them as bargaining tools, not that I'm the kind to do so even if given the chance," she finished.

Ranma raised an eyebrow at this. From what he'd heard from Naruto and Hinata the Tsuchikage was supposedly to be ruthless and unforgiving. And yet now he had just heard her admit that she was capable of forgiveness and that she wasn't as ruthless as they made her out to be. Cold and stern yes, but certainly not ruthless and unforgiving. This line of thought caused Ranma to chuckle.

Shiori heard this and asked, "And what, may I ask, is it that you find so amusing?"

"It's nothing, really," he replied but the small grin on his face said otherwise. "I guess I'm just surprised at how different you are compared to what I've been told."

"Is that so?" Shiori's voice carried a hint of amusement when she asked this. "Well consider that a lesson then. One person's, or one village's, opinion doesn't necessarily mean the truth. In fact, sometimes what the entire world believes in can still be proven false at some point."

"Live the past two years of my life and you'll find out that I already knew that," he replied with a quick laugh. "But that makes me wonder even more. Why are you attacking Konoha? I heard Iwa and Konoha weren't really on good terms because of the last war you two had but I didn't think you'd be the kind to carry on a grudge from something like that."

The corner of Shiori's lip quirked upwards at Ranma's statement. She found it amusing, for some reason, just speaking with Ranma outside of a fight. Perhaps it was because he was different from all the other shinobi. His views and beliefs were certainly different compared to just about all the people she knew. It was unfortunate that they had to be on opposite sides of the battlefield but that was simply how life was.

"And what makes you think I'd tell you?" she asked.

"Because I asked?"

She laughed at his reply, more amused by it than anything else. "If it were for something else then perhaps I may have told you," she replied. She then turned around, walked to the door, and knocked. "I would like to stay longer, especially since I did not get the chance to ask you my question, but I have other things to attend to. Rest assured though that I will return, if only to ask my questions."

The door was pulled open by the shinobi on guard, allowing Ranma to see outside his cell for just a brief moment. "But seeing as you won't be leaving here I see no harm in telling you my reasons," said Shiori from just outside the cell. Her reply came as one simple word just before the doors were shut once again. "Revenge."

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"Tsuchikage-sama."

"What is it?" asked Shiori without even looking up from the paperwork on her desk.

"The Raikage is here to see you," replied the shinobi standing guard outside.

"Let him in."

A few seconds later the door opened and a familiar old man stepped into the room. "So," he began without wasting any time. "How is the boy?"

"He's doing as well as someone in his position can be. He's stronger than we thought, given that he made his first escape attempt soon after waking up and managed to nearly remove the door from its hinges with only one punch. At the moment he's being detained in one of the special cells but if he recovers fully there's a chance that he may still escape if his strength is not a result of Chakra enhancement."

"So his strength and speed may be a result of training," muttered the Raikage, to which his earth counterpart nodded. "Interesting. I can see why he managed to cause quite a bit of trouble. What do you plan to do about him?"

"For now I plan to see if I can get him to reveal the reason for his strength as well as how he used that technique he used against me in the tower," said Shiori. "He told Satsuki that he has been training since he was a child but his natural strength and speed is far above most Jounin and it does not explain that energy blast. I visited his cell yesterday but I couldn't get a specific answer out of him. I'll be having one of my interrogators pay him a visit some time today and I'll personally question him from time to time."

"And if he still says nothing?"

"Then we kill him. He is far too dangerous to be left alone."

The Raikage bowed his head in thought for a moment before looking up to the woman. "May I propose an alternative?" he asked, to which she nodded and waved for him to continue. "I have been going through Orochimaru's journal and I have found an interesting creation of his."

"And what would that be?"

"A body transferring technique."

Shiori's eyes widened in surprise upon hearing that. She had heard of that technique when she and the four other Kage met to form a temporary alliance to fight against Orochimaru and his army of oto shinobi. That was two months after Orochimaru attacked the five previous Kage and their bodyguards when they themselves attempted to create an alliance. Of the five only two Kage survived.

One was Gaara of Suna. He had been found in a state of false death coupled with a powerful Genjutsu to make him appear heavily injured and dead. According to the red-haired Kazekage, Tsunade herself knocked him out when he chose to stay rather than to take the opportunity to run when he had the chance.

The other was none other than the Raikage, Minoru Takamura, who now stood before her. His body may be old but he was still skilled and highly experienced, both of which aided greatly in fending off Orochimaru long enough for him to plan an escape on that fateful day.

"With it," continued the Raikage, "We could transfer one of our shinobi into the young man's body. Konoha would lose a powerful ally and we gain one. With both the boy's strength and Satsuki neither of us would even have to set foot on the battlefield."

He was right and she knew it. Ranma Saotome, the boy who was said to be able to match the Hokage in strength without the aid of the nine-tailed demon fox, along with Satsuki, who could do the same, would be more than enough to take out the Hokage before he could draw out the demon's power. However, there were still other things to consider, things that she would never voice out regardless of her company.

"I will consider it," she replied tersely. She was hesitant to agree for more than one reason. The man before her was the Raikage after all. He was far older and more experienced than she was. She wouldn't be surprised if he was planning to have one of his men take over the boy's body so that he could continue on to attack Iwa once the war against Konoha and Suna was over.

The old man nodded. "That's all I ask. Unless we have some other business you'll have to excuse me. I've been away from Kumo long enough. I'll need to make sure it hasn't been destroyed in my absence."

"Your grandson is quite a capable leader so I wouldn't worry about that."

The Raikage only nodded a second time before he left the room.

Once she sensed that he was out of the building Shiori called out, "Satsuki."

"Yes, Shiori-sama?" replied the auburn haired girl, who appeared in the corner of the room.

"I have an important task for you," she said without looking up from the paperwork. 'Although it might not be something you'd want to do,' she finished in her mind.

"I am ready to do anything you ask, Shiori-sama."

'I doubt that,' thought Shiori. "I want you to keep an eye on Saotome."

"What?" Satsuki deadpanned almost immediately. Had she not have been trained and raised the way she had been, she was certain that she would have yelled out loud instead.

"You heard what I said," came the indifferent reply. "Was my order not clear?"

"They were clear, Shiori-sama. But may I ask why is it you want me to keep an eye on him?" asked the young kunoichi.

Shiori finished what she was writing before she set the brush down, briefly closed her eyes in thought, and then opened them again. "I do not trust the Raikage," she finally replied.

"Why is that Shiori-sama?" Satsuki asked, somewhat surprised. Not only because the Tsuchikage did not trust their ally, but also because she had answered the question. "I thought we were allied with Kumo."

"You should know better, Satsuki," she said, standing from her seat and walking towards the window. She gazed down upon the village that she led and watched the many people, civilians and shinobi alike, go about their daily business. "In the world of shinobi, you never give your complete trust to anyone. Not your subordinate, not your superior, not your team, and especially not an outsider. The only people who should have your complete trust are those who you know beyond your job as a ninja."

"But doesn't giving your full trust to a person involve opening yourself to them even just a little?" Satsuki's face was blank as she asked the question. Inside, however, she was struggling to understand what it was Shiori was telling her. "To allow a person to see who you truly are, to show them how you feel about them, don't such things contradict what it means to be a ninja?"

"True, yet being a ninja is nothing more than a profession. Others embrace it as a way of life but it does not change the fact that it is a mere profession. Beyond that profession is another side of a person, one that, more often than not, is different from the person when they are on a mission. Let us take Uzumaki for example. I assume you have had the chance to observe him when he is around his friends and family."

"I have." Satsuki waited for Shiori to resume speaking but when she did not, she took it as a sign to continue. "He is not too different from the Uzumaki I've seen during the times I fought him. He cares for those around him and will go to many lengths to keep them safe. He is very forgiving to those who have wronged him but not so when they try to hurt others in any form. In a sense, it is as though he is an ordinary civilian, albeit a very kind one, in terms of personality when in the company of friends and family and a shinobi, yet with similar traits at times, when on the battlefield or when necessary."

"Yes, I suppose that's one way to put it," agreed Shiori. "However, you missed one very important detail."

"I did?"

"You forgot the fact that whether on or off the battlefield, his emotions still run free. I'd like to think that you are observant enough to notice that during the two times you fought him he was not as emotionless as some of our own ANBU operatives. Some shinobi kill their hearts, so to speak, at an early point in their career while others are brought up to be completely heartless. Loyal, but heartless nonetheless."

"Uzumaki, however, shelters his heart like many others. It is still there, only hidden. But there are things that cannot be completely hidden. Emotions are one of those things. It is also one of those things that can act as a double-edged blade. Tell me, why is it that we kill or shelter our hearts?"

"Emotions can cloud a person's judgment and can cause them to act irrationally," Satsuki replied, repeating what Shiori had told her in the past word for word.

"Precisely. But I'm sure you can recall at least one person who seems to be an exception to that rule."

"Saotome," she ground out, obviously doing her best not to do or say anything more about said teen.

Shiori nodded, turned away from the window, and looked directly at Satsuki. "Emotions can both hinder and assist a person in many ways, fighting ability being one of them. Those who allow themselves to succumb to their anger in the middle of the battle become nothing more than brawlers. But there are also those whose skill levels seem to escalate dramatically due to their anger." Shiori looked up towards the ceiling and her eyes gained a faraway look as though lost in thought. "These people are able to focus their anger and use it to push themselves past their limits, pain no longer becomes a problem, they react faster, and their movements become much more efficient then before. Even a Chuunin could match or perhaps even defeat a Jounin with that kind of power."

Satsuki was tempted to ask how she knew this but resisted and instead judged by Shiori's actions and words. The conclusion she arrived at was that she had encountered such a person in the past. During a mission where she had killed someone close to her opponent, causing him to become enraged in the manner that had just been described, most likely. There was probably no better way to understand something like that than through experience.

"Uzumaki," Shiori continued, "Has not entered this state yet. But the longer this war goes on the closer that day comes. We need to end this war swiftly and decisively. If we kill someone dear to him before we kill him then our chances of victory will be significantly reduced."

"Is his full strength even beyond mine?" Satsuki asked with a hint of surprise.

"Yes," came the unwavering reply. "That is why we must kill him before one of his loved ones die in battle. He is not foolish enough to launch an attack for the sake of revenge, but given the chance to take revenge he will do so. As to your earlier question, I want you to keep an eye on Saotome to ensure that he does not escape, with or without help."

Satsuki thought for a few seconds about the conversation they just had. "Do you mean to say that you expect the Raikage to aid in his escape?"

"Not so much as helping him as taking him for his own uses. As you heard just now one of Orochimaru's techniques allows him to transfer into another body. From Konoha's reports when we formed the alliance to battle Orochimaru and his army in the past, he had planned on using that technique as a means to achieve immortality."

"So you want me to make sure that the Raikage does not take Saotome and transfer someone, or possibly himself, into Saotome's body?"

"Correct."

"What of my other duties?"

"You are the strongest shinobi in the village under my command so you have the best chance of stopping any attempted kidnappings, even if the Raikage himself tried to take Saotome. Until I get the answers I need out of the boy we will need to keep him alive and within this village."

"Understood. Until that day comes, I will personally ensure that he remains in his cell."

Shiori nodded and Satsuki took that as a sign of dismissal. Satsuki left just as quickly as she appeared, leaving Shiori by herself once more. "I certainly hope you do," she said even though Satsuki was no longer there. "Because once this war is over we still have Suna, Kiri, and Kumo to deal with."

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"Come for a visit Satsuki-chan?"

There was a low growl accompanied by a barely audible reply of, "Don't call me that." Once Satsuki calmed herself down she said, "This isn't a social visit. I'm merely here to personally ensure that you don't escape."

"What? The chains, Chakra sucking seals, two-inch thick steel door, and several Jounin and ANBU guards aren't enough?" he asked with a brief chuckle. "Wow, I must be stronger than I thought if you guys need this much to keep me here."

"Believe me, I have better things to do than keep an eye on you but orders are orders. You may as well think of what you're going to say to Shiori-sama the next time she comes here."

"Why's that?" Ranma asked the girl standing in the corner of the dark room. "It's not like I know a lot about Konoha and their secrets. And it's not like you can convince me to fight for you guys. So what could you guys possibly want?"

"What do you think?" she asked in return, wondering why he hasn't realized it yet. She sighed in annoyance and shook her head. "If you don't already know the reason then there's probably no point in my telling you. You'll just have to wait for Shiori-sama to come."

"Come on, can't you give me even a little hint?"

Satsuki remained silent. It was the only way she could think of to get him to stop talking. 'Then again he could just go on even if I don't say anything,' she thought. She wouldn't put it past him to do something like that just to annoy her. Right after that thought entered her mind she tensed, wondering if that was exactly what he was about to do.

He opened his mouth and, if it was even possible, she tensed even more. When all he did was let out a big sigh, she resisted the urge to do the same out of relief. Now, though, her curiosity was piqued. The entire time she knew the pigtailed teen she could not recall ever hearing him sigh for any reason whatsoever. She was sorely tempted to ask him the reason for his sigh but knew that it would only give him another reason to annoy her. In the end the desire not to have the pigtailed teen annoy her won out over her desire to satisfy her curiosity.

Well, it won out for about ten seconds anyway. "What now?" she asked when he sighed again, trying to make it seem as though she wasn't interested in his answer.

Ranma, however, seemed to have other ideas. "What do you mean?"

Satsuki's jaw clenched shut at the question. Regardless of what she answered it wouldn't end in her favor. If she told him what she was talking about then she was already admitting to being curious and who knew how he'd annoy her over that. If she didn't then she might not get an answer out of him. In the end she swallowed her pride and just decided to be straightforward about it.

"I'm talking about that sigh earlier," she said as disinterested as possible. "If I'm going to be watching you for an indefinite period of time I'm going to have to make sure you don't intend to kill yourself of anything stupid like that." Well, as straightforward as she would allow herself anyway.

"Aw, Satsuki-chan's worried about me," he said, beginning what Satsuki was sure to be an eternity of annoyance. "Well don't worry about me killing myself. I'll leave that up to mom to decide."

"What does your mother have to do with this conversation?" she asked, suddenly wondering what he brought her up, especially when they were just speaking of him committing suicide of all things.

"She the one who might make me commit seppuku one day so why not?" he asked as though it were an ordinary occurrence. And for some reason Satsuki felt that it was.

It was then that a very interesting thought entered Satsuki's mind. "Why? Does she annoy you that much?" she asked. 'Maybe this is why he's so annoying.'

"Not really," came the reply from the pigtailed teen. "It's only when she tried to get me to wear dresses and stuff in my female form, which is really often since I'm pretty much a water magnet. But that kind of stuff's not enough to make me wanna kill myself."

"That's right, I still haven't informed Shiori-sama about that condition of yours," Satsuki said in a low voice, speaking mostly to herself. "I suppose I'll have to inform her of this the next time she comes by."

"Do you really have to tell her that?"

The auburn haired girl thought for a moment, wondering if she could somehow turn the situation in her favor. After all, it wasn't like Ranma could do anything in his female form that he couldn't do in his male form that would help his situation anyway. It might have caught Shiori off guard had she entered to find a female Ranma instead of the male one. But unless Ranma had somehow removed the manacles and chains that bound him to the wall before then, catching her off guard would be pointless.

It was highly unlikely that Shiori would have let the female Ranma free just because the male Ranma was no longer there. Her eyes were sharp and would no doubt see the resemblance the male Ranma had with the female Ranma. Ranma's two forms could easily be passed off as siblings in that regard, maybe even fraternal twins. And now that she was Ranma's guard indefinitely she would be able to tell the Tsuchikage should she need to.

"Well," she drawled out, looking as disinterested as possible once again. "I suppose I don't have to tell her. After all, a useless ability like that couldn't cause any problems. But, and I'm sure you saw this coming, what's to keep me from telling Shiori-sama anyway? I have no reason to keep this a secret from her, even if such information is insignificant."

Ranma did expect something like that; it wasn't the first time after all. He would have been surprised if she did keep it a secret without asking for anything in return. But he did wonder what Satsuki could possibly want, or if he could even give her what she wants. After all, he only had so many things with him and he couldn't exactly leave to get her what she wanted if he didn't already have it.

"I'm probably gonna regret asking this but what do you want?"

Satsuki allowed herself to smile, just a little bit. It's not like he could see it with her standing in the dark and all. "That energy blast you used against me in our in fight in the tower." She paused to allow him time to recall their fight then continued when he his face showed signs of remembering. "I want you to teach it to me."

Ranma seemed to think about it for a moment instead of agreeing immediately. Satsuki expected that. He was probably wondering whether it would be better to have his condition revealed or to have the enemy learn one of his techniques, especially one so powerful.

"That depends," Ranma said after a moment of thought. "How long do you think I'll be here?"

"Why does it matter?"

"It matters because it'll take me weeks to prepare you for it, and months before you can make it strong enough to actually use it in a fight."

"Don't underestimate me," she replied with a growl. "My Chakra control is excellent. No matter how hard it is I'll learn it much faster than you did."

"Your control's not the problem, it's your Chakra."

"What about it? I have much more Chakra than you do. How can that be a problem?"

"That's exactly the problem. The technique doesn't use Chakra."

"What? How can there be a technique that does _not _use Chakra?"

"When a technique is made by someone who doesn't use Chakra, that's how," Ranma replied casually. "Look, I don't know who made the technique or how they did it. It could have been thousands of years ago or maybe just a few days before I first saw it being used. In the end you just can't learn it unless I get you ready for it, and I can't get you ready for it unless we have at least a few weeks to learn how to use your Chi reserves."

"Chi?"

"Yeah. That's what you'll need to be able to use any of the techniques I know that I didn't learn in Konoha. So unless you've got a few weeks to spare, better pick something else."

Satsuki shook her head, giving him a stern glance, not that he could see it. "In that case I'll learn it in a matter of days instead of weeks. I'll be watching over you until Shiori-sama can decide what to do with you. We have until then."

Ranma could only sigh, his head bowed down in defeat. 'Oh well,' he thought. 'At least I won't be bored out of my mind. Who knows? Maybe Satsuki will end up blasting these chains apart by accident while training. At the very least I'll be able to take off the seals once my hands are free.' Looking back up to where Satsuki was standing, he said, "Alright. We'll start tomorrow. But you'll have to be patient with me. I didn't exactly learn this with help from a scroll or from anyone so I'm not the best teacher for this particular technique.

_END CHAPTER 2_

**And that's the end of this chapter. As we said above, here's a little extra for making you all wait so long.**

_OMAKE_

"That's right, I still haven't informed Shiori-sama about that condition of yours," Satsuki said in a low voice, speaking mostly to herself. "I suppose I'll have to inform her of this the next time she comes by."

"Do you really have to tell her that?"

"Well," she drawled out, looking as disinterested as possible once again. "I suppose I don't have to tell her. After all, a useless ability like that couldn't cause any problems. But, and I'm sure you saw this coming, what's to keep me from telling Shiori-sama anyway? I have no reason to keep this a secret from her, even if such information is insignificant."

"I'm probably gonna regret asking this but what do you want?" Soon after, Ranma shivered. Looking at Satsuki's hidden form, he could just imagine a maniacal grin on her face.

_Later…_

In her office, the Tsuchikage was busy with all the paperwork on her desk when she felt a chill run down the length of her spine. She was about to dismiss it as nothing more than the cold wind blowing through the window when she heard something that made her blood run cold.

"COMEONISTHATREALLYTHEBESTYOUCANALLDO? YOUCAN'TEVENTOUCHMESOHOWDOYOUEXPECTTOWINWHENYOUCAN'TCATCHMELETALONETOUCHME? MAYBESHIORISAMACANGIVEMEABETTERCHALLENGE. ISSHEITHETOWER? COMEONTELLMEWHERESHEISIWANNAPLAYTAGWITHHER!"

Looking out the window overlooking the village, Shiori caught sight of the destruction caused in less than a minute since the yelling began. The bodies of many shinobi, and even civilians, lay scattered along the street, carts used by merchants lay on their side or were upturned completely, the stalls lining the market area were completely wrecked, the wares being sold littering the streets, and so much more.

Just then, she felt six people enter her office. Turning around, she saw the four people she wanted to see, flanked on either side by ANBU. Those four were Satsuki's assigned teammates. "Alright," she addressed them calmly. Despite this fact they were sweating bullets and were as pale as snow, glancing nervously around the room as though looking for an escape route. "I am only going to ask this once and I expect an answer." The four nodded, dreading what was to come. "WHO THE HELL GAVE SATSUKI CANDY?"

**As usual, please click the GO button near the lower left corner of the page and tell us what you think. Like it, love it, hate it, despise it, wanna burn it, wanna print out a copy of the chapter and frame it, it doesn't matter what it is we still want to hear your opinions. **

**So until the next chapter people.**


	30. Arc 3 Chapter 3

Terms of Engagement

By Overlord of Order and Overlord of Chaos

**SUMMARY: ****Many things have happened over the course of Ranma's life. But he soon learns that things were not as they first appeared, a lesson he has learned time and again. When he learns of the truth behind many events in his life, will he be up to the challenge?**

**Damn, half a year since our last update. Sorry for taking so long with this. We've been very busy with real life stuff, some good, some bad, some boring but necessary and others. Anyway, here's the next chapter. **

**Might not be up to the same standards as previous chapters but that might just be us. Enjoy.**

_Arc 3: World of the Amaranthine War_

_Chapter 3: Flight of the Firefly_

Three days had gone by for Ranma since he had woken up in Iwa's prison. During those three days nothing of great import happened. Unless you counted being visited, or rather interrogated, by the Tsuchikage twice a day. The questions, however, were not what he had expected at all. He had expected her to ask him things about Konoha, things she could use against them in the war. Instead, what she was asking him things about himself.

Where he grew up, who his teacher was, how he performed those techniques without handseals, where he learned them, and other similar questions. He answered the questions honestly, but obviously kept the fact that he lived in a different dimension a secret. And in between interrogation sessions, he was teaching Satsuki how to sense her Chi. But even after three days she had yet to tell the difference between her Chakra and her Chi. He did suggest that she take off the chains so he could let her feel the difference between his Chakra and Chi but she, of course, shot down that idea immediately.

And now, once again, she was growing frustrated at not finding any energy source within her that was not Chakra. "Why can't I find it?" she asked for the umpteenth time in three days.

"I told you, just take off these seals so I can let you feel the difference between my Chakra and Chi," Ranma said once again, having said it once for every time she asked that same question. "Don't worry, I'll let you put it back on afterwards."

Satsuki didn't bother replying this time but shut her eyes and continued to meditate instead. Ranma, though, could see the frustration written on her face. Finally deciding to help her out a bit he said, "The reason you can't sense it properly is because you've got too much Chakra. The best way to fix this is to drain or seal off as much of your Chakra as possible without killing yourself."

"And how, or rather why, would I do that?" came Satsuki's snark reply. "As much as I want to learn that technique of yours, my duty comes first. And I will not risk failure by weakening myself in such a way."

"Your loss." Ranma shrugged, the chains binding him to the wall rattling as he did so. "So…"

"What?" Satsuki asked irritably. Somehow she just knew that his question would just annoy her further.

"Hey, Satsuki," he began, his tone completely serious.

She turned to him, wondering what he could want now. She was, however, wary of his tone. Ranma very rarely spoke with such a serious tone. And when he did, it was certainly something big. "What is it?"

"How much longer do you think I'm going to stay here?"

'Ah, I see,' thought Satsuki. 'So he finally realizes that he will be killed once he's outlived his usefulness. It's been three days since he woke up and he's yet to say anything significant to Shiori-sama. If this keeps up...' Keeping her facial features neutral, she spoke in response to Ranma's question. "I can't say," she said. "But despite Shiori-sama's patience, even she has her limits. So I assume you'll only be here for a few more days."

"I see."

Watching Ranma's stony expression was a new experience for Satsuki. She had never seen him so serious before. But then again, facing certain death would do that to anyone. Not even the most cheerful person alive could possibly face certain death with a smile. Especially not in the manner that Ranma was facing it. For someone like Ranma who would willingly fight to the death, to be captured then killed without being able to put up a fight was certainly the most deplorable way to die.

'Soon, he'll finally be dead and there'll be one less obstacle standing between Uzumaki and I. So then… why?' Satsuki turned away from Ranma and placed one hand on her chest, which began to tighten the moment she thought of Ranma's impending death. 'I should be glad he's going to die. Glad that he'll finally be out of the way. So why is it that I start to feel this way whenever I think of this?'

She was so distracted by her thoughts that she nearly failed to notice the door to Ranma's cell open. Nearly. "Sh-Shiori-sama," she called out hastily, acknowledging the presence of her superior when she noticed who it was that had opened the door.

"Why do you sound so surprised?" asked the brown haired woman. "Were you expecting someone else? Surely you know that I wouldn't leave the task of interrogating our friend Ranma here to anyone else."

"I apologize for my lack of attention Shiori-sama," said Satsuki, her head bowed down in apology. "I was deep in thought just before you came in, though that is no excuse on my part."

Shiori was silent and despite her desire to see Shiori's reaction, Satsuki kept her head bowed down. "Well, considering the circumstances I suppose I could allow you this one fault. However, it would seem that my assumption was correct. Therefore, you are now relieved of your current duty."

Surprised by the sudden turn of events, Satsuki raised her head and looked up at her superior. "Sh-Shiori-sama? W-Why?" She stammered out, silently fearing that she was being punished for her fault. Or perhaps she had learned of her lessons with Ranma, and the fact that she had gotten Ranma to tell her what Chi was, and was punishing her for hiding such information. Millions of possibilities raced through her head as to why she was being relieved of her duty. So worried was she that she nearly failed to hear the first half of the Tsuchikage's reply.

"…eems that staying here is causing you more stress than I believed. Therefore, I am relieving you of this duty and assigning the task of guarding Saotome to your former team. Is there a problem with that?"

Hearing the reason, at least the end of it, behind Shiori's decision certainly did wonders for calming Satsuki. The small amount of fear and anxiety she felt was washed away almost immediately, though some part of her still believed that Shiori suspected something, and Satsuki's emotionless persona took the stage once more. "I apologize for my outburst Shiori-sama. If you believe it to be for the best then I see no reason to argue."

"Very well then. For now you are dismissed. I will summon you when I am done here to explain your new mission."

"Understood." Without so much as a glance backwards to where Ranma sat, Satsuki left the cell. Out in the hallway she saw two Iwa-nin and two Kumo-nin, who were her former teammates, standing on either side of the cell door, which she shut behind her. With a barely visible nod of her head to the four, she walked away from Ranma's cell to resume her normal duties.

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Back in the cell, Shiori stood before Ranma, carefully assessing the young man before her. All the questions she asked the previous three visits had been answered, quite honestly too. However, his answers were quite vague in a sense. He answered all her questions, revealing names of people and places, but in the end, she only had more questions for the names he had given were of people unknown to her and of places not on any map.

She had asked him, just the previous day in fact, where Japan was. His reply? It was located in East Asia, separated form the mainland by the Sea of Japan. And when asked where Asia was in relation to the Elemental Countries, he simply said, "Don't know. But it's the largest continent in the world so it should be easy to find."

Now here she was again, for the fourth day in a row, ready to interrogate the foreigner. "Am I right to assume that Satsuki said something to make you this way?" asked Shiori upon noting Ranma's serious demeanor.

"Not exactly. But she did just confirm one of my suspicions for me."

"And what suspicions might that be?" she asked, narrowing her eyes slightly.

"Something tells me I won't be here in this cell much longer. Am I right?"

Shiori shut her eyes in thought, wondering what she should tell the young man. A few minutes passed in silence before Shiori came to a decision. "You would be correct. The only question is, will you prolong your time here? Or will you shorten it, if that is even possible."

"With my luck I'll probably end up shortening it," he replied with a cocky grin on his face that he had shown during their previous two fights.

That grin made Shiori think. What did he mean by shortening his stay? The statement could be understood in two ways but she couldn't be certain of what he meant by it. Did he mean that his poor luck meant he would die sooner? Or did it mean that his good fortune would finally allow him to escape? Shiori couldn't tell which was the right interpretation in this case and made a mental note to keep a close eye on her prisoner. "We shall see. Today though, I only have one question for you."

"Shoot."

"Do you have any intention of answering my questions without evading the answer I want?"

This question caused Ranma to raise an eyebrow in response, wondering why she would ask that question. "I thought I _was _answering your questions. If you didn't get the right answer you could have said something."

"I see." And with that, Shiori walked away. Before the door was closed behind her, she looked over her shoulder and said, "I do not know whether you are fortunate or not, but you were right. Come tomorrow, you will never see this cell again."

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"You called Shiori-sama?"

As soon as Shiori returned to her office, she called for Satsuki, who arrived barely a minute afterwards. "I have an assignment for you. I want you to patrol this entire village."

"Shiori-sama?"

"I have something important planned for tomorrow and I want to be certain that nothing will interfere. I will assign several ANBU teams to patrol the village as well but as one who has the Byakugan, you will be the most likely to see something they cannot."

"Understood. Will there be anything else?" Receiving a shake of the head in reply, Satsuki bowed and turned to leave the room. Just after opening the door, Shiori spoke once more.

"This event will be an important one with regards to the war. At the moment our shinobi are somewhat disheartened due to our recent defeats as well as the failure of numerous skirmishes across the Elemetal Countries. Tomorrow will bring the chance to raise our shinobi's spirits. I'm sure I don't have to tell you the importance of such an event at this point in time."

Satsuki merely gave a nod in return before leaving the room, leaving the Tsuchikage alone once more. "Soon that nightmare of a boy will be gone and only Uzumaki will remain," she whispered quietly to the empty room. "You don't have much longer to wait my little firefly. I will avenge you soon enough."

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Back in the Land of Fire, things seemed to have settled down after their last major battle against Iwa and Kumo. As much as things could settle down in he middle of a war anyway. The shinobi were back to their usual task of patrolling the village and nearby cities and villages, going out on missions, responding to sightings of Iwa or Kumo shinobi, and attacking the border defenses of either of their enemies. Yes, things have gone back to a more normal pace.

But beneath all this normality, several people were far more tense and anxious than they should have been after what could be considered a major victory for their side. This particular group of people was composed of Jounin, some Chuunin, and even the Hokage himself. Some of them came from prestigious or well-known families, others from a long line of shinobi, and some from civilian families. But one thing these people all had in common was their interaction with a certain Japanese martial artist. While not all of them were privy to the knowledge of their common friend's true origins, they all found a friend in the young man.

At the moment, one of those people was just returning to the village from a mission. Walking just a few feet ahead of her was a trio of young shinobi, her team. They were currently discussing their performance during the mission they had just completed. "All I'm saying is that you should warn us before you do something like that," said the young Hyuuga. "If it wasn't for my Byakugan then both Fujitaka and I would have been caught in your Genjutsu too."

"And I'm saying that I did warn you," shot back the red-haired girl. "Besides, if I warned you earlier then those bandits might have heard something. Even if they couldn't break out of a Genjutsu if they weren't in my line of sight then they wouldn't have been caught in it."

"Yeah, well I'm gonna have nightmares for weeks because of that," muttered the boy with pale blonde hair. "So don't blame me if I wake up screaming next time were out on a mission like this."

"Don't be such a wimp. I mean, even Ranma can look at a cat now without running off," commented Misami. "And speaking of Ranma, where is he sensei? I don't think we've seen him since our last mission with him before you guys went of to that last battle."

Kurenai sighed inwardly, having expected that question from her students. "Sorry, but I can't say," she replied professionally.

"So he's on a mission?" asked Kaname.

"You could say that," came the Genjutsu Mistress's reply. "I can't really say much more since we're not allowed to speak about the mission of another team or person. I'm sure you can understand why."

"It's to prevent spies from finding out where our shinobi are, right?"

Kurenai nodded in Fujitaka's direction, acknowledging his answer. "That's right. Only the Hokage and those involved in the mission are allowed to know even the most minuscule of details. So for now, all we can do is wait for Ranma to return from his mission. Besides, knowing him he's already done with the mission and is probably sightseeing or something," she finished with a small smile on her face. Her thoughts, however, were very different. 'You better come back Ranma, and soon. No one likes to be the bearer of bad news. And it can't get any worse than having to tell someone's friends and family about the death of someone close to them.'

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Within Konoha, many people were sharing the same sentiments as the crimson-eyed Jounin. Among those people was the famed Copy-nin, Kakashi Hatake who, at the moment, was giving a report to his superior, and former student, Naruto Uzumaki. "Many of our border camps have managed to push back several attempts to enter the Land of Fire but some, specifically those bordering the northern part of the country, have fallen to attacks from a combined strikeforce from Iwa and Kumo. I'm relieved that they aren't coordinating more attacks like those. Not very surprising but if they did then they would have certainly managed to make their way at least halfway to Konoha from the border."

"It's because those two don't completely trust each other," came the bored reply of Shikamaru Nara, Konoha's head strategist, who was standing beside Naruto. "Both the Raikage and the Tsuchikage have their own reasons for attacking Konoha but this war certainly won't make them friends. They don't want to give away too many secrets to each other, nor do they actually want to keep the number of casualties low for the other. If one of them comes out weaker than the other at the end of this war, should we lose that is, that country might find themselves being invaded by former allies."

Behind his desk Naruto sat with a contemplative look on his face, carefully processing the information in his mind. Shikamaru was right on both counts. This war wouldn't cause the two villages to become friends, nor would it dissuade them from further war should their ally come out of the war significantly weaker than they would. He knew the two village leaders well enough, having lived through another lifetime and returning with the knowledge, to know that that was true.

Shiori Koji was an ambitious leader, one that would not be satisfied by having the land divided among many leaders. If Iwa and Kumo win the war then she would undoubtedly wage war against the rest of the Elemental Countries until it was all under her banner. And then there was her personal grudge against him. Even the first time around, he did not understand why she wanted revenge against him. He could not remember doing anything to her that would warrant the desire for revenge.

Minoru Takamura, on the other hand, wanted power. It was not the same kind of power that Orochimaru sought but rather he wanted power in the form of military power. It was the reason he attempted to kidnap Hinata Hyuuga all those years ago and the reason he continued to covet the famed Byakugan. He wanted the power to allow his village to combat any and all invaders. While his desire was admirable, his methods, however, were not.

Looking up from his desk to the masked shinobi in front of him, Naruto said, "Kakashi, work with Shikamaru and organize an attack force to take back the areas we've lost. I don't want a single Iwa or Kumo shinobi left within our borders unless they're prisoners, corpses, or defectors. If they are defectors, question them thoroughly and have a Yamanaka with you to verify the truth."

Kakashi nodded and left the room, followed by a muttering Shikamaru. Soon after, a dark haired man with red, triangular markings underneath his eyes walked into the room. "Any news Kiba?"

Kiba shook his head. "Unfortunately, we couldn't find him. We know he's definitely alive since we found a scent trail leading into the Land of Stone. We followed the trail as far as we could but any farther and we'd be too close to their village. He's most likely being held prisoner in the village. Mind you, this is mostly speculation since there's no way Akamaru and I could have gotten into Iwa by ourselves without getting caught. He could have been moved to another location to throw us off or possibly killed already."

"I see. Good work, in any case. I'm sure he'll get out and make it back."

"Who're you trying to convince Naruto?" Kiba replied somewhat heatedly. "Me? Or you? You called off the search when the battle ended then the moment we get back you call me for a private meeting asking me to look for the kid. If you really believed he'd make it back then you wouldn't have asked me to go and find him." Kiba took a quick calming breath and look at his longtime friend, who was suddenly looking much older than he really was. "Look, we're all worried about the kid but there's nothing we can do at this point. And unless you wanna go for an all out attack on the village right now then we'll just have to wait for him to come back."

"An all out attack huh?" Naruto gave a dry laugh at that idea. "If only it were that easy. I knew there was nothing I could do, but that kid is very important. I can't let him get killed like this."

"Important? Why? He some kind of royalty or something?"

"No, nothing like that. Don't forget that he's one of the people who'll be holding back the demon invasion in their country."

"You're right," replied Kiba, remembering now the reason that Ranma was training in Konoha and learning their techniques. "With everything that's been happening it's kinda easy to forget something like that. But are they seriously putting their hopes on one kid?"

"There are others, from what Happosai told me," said Naruto. "But Ranma has a lot of potential and they need every bit of help they can get. You've seen how good he was when he first came here. In terms of taijutsu there's not much difference asides from speed and power, but he's come a long way with ninjutsu and his personal techniques. This chi blasts of his are a lot more powerful than they used to be and he can now create a blade if he needs to cut anything down."

"But he doesn't use it since he doesn't kill, right?" asked Kiba to which Naruto nodded in response. "Well, he's definitely a lot better than when he first came here. But will it be enough? I mean, even that one-tailed beast is strong enough to take on a Kage level shinobi. How do they expect to fight of a demon invasion?"

"I'm not really the person to ask regarding that. Anyway, I've got a mission for you if you're up for it."

"What do you need done?"

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"Well, this certainly isn't where I expected to find you. You mother would be so proud to know that you've done something to get the humans to imprison you like this."

"Very funny," growled Ranma, glaring at the new arrival to his cell. Or at least, glaring at where he thought she was. "What are you doing here Seera?" He panted out, more than just a little tired from trying to focus his chi to break out of his bonds. The seals, however, quickly drained any energy he managed to muster up whether it be chi or chakra.

"I am always watching you Ranma. After all, I cannot very well leave you alone. With all the chaos surrounding your life it would only have been a matter of time before you were killed in some manner. Since I cannot convince you to return with me then I must keep you alive until then. And from the look of things you don't even have a full day left to live."

"So what? You're offering to get me out of here?"

"Of course. When you return-"

"You mean if I return," Ranma interrupted coldly.

"When you return with me," she repeated, not deterred by his interruption at all. "And unseal your heritage, I will serve you just as I serve your mother. She plans on giving me to you when you've joined us. It makes no difference whether you give me orders now or then. So long as it doesn't interfere with my current mission nor does it involve betraying Shaika-sama, then I will do it." Seera spoke with absolute certainty, that much was clear.

The tone in her voice convinced Ranma that she'd kill herself if he told her to, if not for the fact that doing so would lead to the failure of her mission. He didn't know why, but he just knew she was speaking the truth. "How does that sound?" she asked him. "I could kill this… Tsuchikage, I believe they call her, and every single one of the shinobi in this village. Or if you prefer, I'll kill everyone but her and leave her for you."

"Forget it. I don't need your help."

"Would it really be so bad to accept my help at this point in time? Whether you do it willingly or not, you will be returning with me to the demon world one day. I will eventually be yours to command so why not start now?"

"Keep trying. I'm not gonna change my mind on this."

"Very well. But I hope you realize that if you don't find a way to escape by the time they decide to kill you, I will interfere regardless of what you say," Seera told him firmly. "You are far more important to us than you believe. You are more than just Shaika-sama's son, more than just another soldier for the war. There are some who consider you a close and trusted friend."

"Friend?" Ranma scoffed at the idea of having a friend amongst the demons. "Don't make me laugh. Why would I have a demon for a friend? Besides, they've never even met me and I haven't seen a single demon that I haven't beaten up."

"And you never considered the fact that some demons have a human appearance or can assume one?" asked Seera in what sounded like an amused tone. "Some demons walk the earth just as freely as humans do because of their appearance or ability to appear as one. You've interacted with several demons over the course of your life. In fact, you've been interacting with some of them since you settled down in Nerima."

"What? There are demons in Nerima?" Ranma asked in shock. Shock then gave way to concern as he began to worry about his family as well as the Tendo family. "But how? I didn't sense a single one of them."

"If they were easy to find then others would have sensed them already. Demons that choose to hide, live, or travel in the human world without being detected are often those that can easily hide their presence from those who can sense them. I can name seven demons you interact with quite often. But out of respect for their privacy I won't."

"Didn't think you demons showed any respect at all."

"You're referring to the younger demons that follow only their instinct. Older demons tend to be more… human-like, in a sense. But I've digressed. As I was saying, there are those that would be affected by your death, excluding your mother, both human and demon of course."

"If they were just human and if you didn't have your orders then I'm sure you'd just leave me to die if I didn't get out." Seera merely laughed in response, a response that was certainly unexpected and had Ranma staring at her in confusion. "What's so funny?"

"Just the fact that you are quite far from the truth," she replied with a bit of laughter. "Whether or not only humans would be saddened by your death, and regardless of my orders, I would have saved you just the same. The reason shall become clear sooner or later. Sooner, if you simply accept my help now."

"No chance."

"Well, you can't really blame me for trying. But it is your fate," she said, her voice slowly fading away with each word. "Your return to the demon world is inevitable." Her final words were barely audible but Ranma understood them well enough.

"Fate?" he scoffed, looking right where Seera had been just seconds ago. "I never believed in fate. And I don't plan on starting now." With renewed vigor, he focused inwards once more, reaching deep into his reserves of chi for another attempt to escape. 'Just wait. I'll show you that I don't need help from you or any demon.'

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Dawn could not come soon enough for the leader of the village of Iwa. As much as she wanted to kill Ranma the day before, she thought it would be better if she made it a public display for the shinobi. God only knows that their numerous defeats brought their morale quite low. But the death of such a powerful enemy, a public one at that, would certainly raise their spirits and, in turn, lower that of Konoha's. Not even a day as gloomy as today could dampen their moods once the execution got under way.

She looked out the window of her office towards the back of the village where a mountain range was located. Part of the village was amongst the mountain range. To be precise, it was where their training grounds and examination area for the Chuunin exams were located. The examination stadium was where the execution was to be held and even from afar, Shiori could already see Ranma as she killed him personally in front of hundreds of Iwa shinobi.

"Shiori-sama."

"Is everything alright Satsuki?"

"No suspicious activities or personnel to report. However…"

Sensing her hesitance, Shiori turned around to face Satsuki. "What is it?" she prompted.

"Last night, I saw another presence inside Saotome's cell," she replied after hesitating for a moment more. "It was only for a second then it disappeared. I questioned the guards but none of them saw, heard, or sensed anyone enter or leave his cell. I examined the cell myself with the Byakugan but could not find any trace of an intruder."

"Could you have been mistaken?"

"Perhaps but… that presence…"

"What about it?"

"It felt… malevolent. Quite similar to that of a tailed beast."

Shiori's eyes narrowed in suspicion as countless possibilities ran through her head. "Could it have been Saotome?"

Satsuki shook her head in response. "No. I examined him as well last night. There is nothing on or in him that would suggest that he is a demon container as well. He was, however, quite drained of chakra. Most likely from attempting to escape."

"Not surprising. I would have been suspicious if he did not attempt to escape during the night. Anything else?"

"Nothing else to report, Shiori-sama."

"Very well then," she nodded. "It's about time. Go and escort Saotome to the stadium for the execution. Once you have done so, I want you keep watch from the stadium's wall. I do not want any surprises so keep an eye out just in case."

With a shallow bow and a quick affirmation, Satsuki left the room and went to Ranma's cell door. Seeing Satsuki, her former teammates opened the door for her, understanding immediately her reason for being there. Looking into the room, Satsuki saw Ranma already awake, watching the door intently. "Let's go."

The ANBU guards walked into the cell and disconnected the chains from the walls and from Ranma. They secured his arms in front of him with a pair of manacles attached to another pair that went around his ankles. Ranma walked out of the cell when the guards did, having no other choice but to follow. Two guards were positioned in front of him and two were behind him in a square formation, with Satsuki walking directly behind him. Once outside, they led him towards the mountain range where their destination was. It didn't matter to him that he was in chains, or that he was quite filthy, not having the chance to change his clothes or even bathe since his imprisonment, he kept his gaze straight ahead. Satsuki herself was somewhat surprised that he didn't put up a fight.

The walk up to the stadium was long, mainly because the followed the mountain path normally used by civilians who want to watch the exams. Along the way, many Iwa shinobi watched as Ranma was led towards his death. Many of the younger shinobi jeered at him, throwing a myriad of taunts and mocking remarks his way but he ignored them all. The older generation of shinobi held him in high regard. He was, after all, quite a worthy opponent on the battlefield, discounting the fact that he refused to kill. And some of those shinobi could not help but feel sorry for him. For a promising young man to die at such a young age was truly something they did not wish to see regardless of which side they were on. But regardless of what they believed, his life lay in the hands of the Tsuchikage. And her decision was to kill him. They would not argue with that decision.

Upon reaching the stadium, Ranma saw that it was similar to the one in Konoha. And much like the recent Chuunin exam, the stadium was filled with spectators. These spectators, however, were not there to cheer for a combatant, but to witness the death of an enemy. In the middle of the stadium was a small platform and on that platform was none other than Shiori Koji herself, decked out in her Tsuchikage robe and hat and a katana at her hip. Apparently he had not been paying enough attention as he failed to realize that she had been addressing the assembled shinobi, paying attention only when she called out his name just as he arrived.

The four ANBU and Satsuki led him up to the platform where he stood in the middle and the four guards stood at the four corners of the platform while Satuski went to the top of the stadium, watching the events below as well as using her Byakugan to prevent any surprises form occurring. Shiori walked up to Ranma and gave him a cold smile. "The night did not pass quickly enough for this," said Shiori. "But it was certainly worth the wait. Is there any particular way you wish to die?" At his skeptical look she continued. "You have earned the respect of many shinobi here, mine included. Though it will not change the fact that you will die, at the very least you can choose the way you die."

"Well, unless you're going to release my arms so that I can commit seppuku, then I don't really care how I die."

"Oh? And why would you choose that as a way of death? I thought only samurai performed seppuku."

"An agreement with my mother," was all Ranma said in return.

Seeing that no other answer was forthcoming, Shiori accepted this answer and said, "I see. While I cannot grant that request for obvious reasons, I will make it a quick death. Any final words?" She asked, drawing the katana from its sheathe.

Ranma was about to say no when something behind Shiori caught his eye. He looked up towards the sky for a moment then back to Shiori. "Yeah," he replied then told her his request.

"Fair enough." She sheathed the katana and then just stood there.

They stood there on the platform for a moment, causing everyone to wonder what was going on. Satsuki was among those who were confused by the situation. 'What's going on? He said something to Shiori-sama and then she sheathed her blade. What did he say?'

The seconds ticked by and turned into minutes. Some of the confused shinobi were already losing their patience some were already prepared to yell out complaints. But just before the first shinobi of many could voice his displeasure, the roar of thunder was heard overhead. Everyone, Satsuki included, looked up towards the sky just as the rain began falling. Feeling several drops of water hit her face, Satsuki's milky white eyes widened in realization.

Looking down towards the Tsuchikage, who was still staring at Ranma and vice-versa, she took a deep breath and called out. "SHIORI-SAMA! KILL HIM NOW!"

The words registered in Shiori's mind but the reasoning, of course, did not, causing her to look askance at Satsuki. Just then a bolt of lightning shot across the sky, the peal of thunder blocking out Satsuki's next words. But seeing the girl's panicked face was enough to tell her that something was wrong. She quickly turned back to Ranma just as the rain grew stronger and her own eyes widened when the tall, raven-haired young man before her suddenly changed into a short, crimson-haired young woman. With her captors thoroughly distracted, Ranma-chan raised her arms up to her face and tore off the two Chakra Suppressing seals with her mouth.

Seeing what their prisoner was doing, the four ANBU leapt into action. But just before they reached Ranma-chan, said teen just grinned and glowed white just before a powerful wave of energy blasted the ANBU and Shiori away. Satsuki, appeared behind Shiori, catching her and helping her to her feet just as the wave of energy passed. Metal and wooden shrapnel from the manacles and platform respectively flew at them but Satsuki and Shiori, who finally regained her composure, managed to deflect them all from hitting them.

When the dust cleared, they saw Ranma-chan standing there with a cocky grin on her face, holding the remaining two Suppression seals in her hands. "Sorry for the trouble but I've really got to get back to Konoha. Gotta make sure they know I'm still alive after all."

Just as Ranma-chan turned to leave, a frantic voice called out, "Wait!"

Both Ranma-chan and Satsuki turned, mostly due to the tone of voice used, to Shiori, who had called out. Her face was deathly pale as though she had seen a ghost, her breathing was shallow and her eyes wide open in shock. "H-Hotaru? Is that… Is that you?"

"Hotaru?" Ranma-chan asked aloud while Satsuki merely mouthed the name, wondering just who this Hotaru was. "Sorry, but I don't even know anyone named Hotaru," she replied, thinking that perhaps she looked like someone she knew. "Anyway, I gotta go. Sorry for the trouble." And with that, Ranma-chan ran off, knocking aside all the shinobi that attempted to get in her way as she made her way to the exit.

"No! Wait!" Shiori yelled while reaching out with her arm, her voice full of desperation but the sound of the rain and thunder drowned out her voice.

"Shiori-sama, are you alright?"

Taking a moment to calm herself, Shiori turned to Satsuki and addressed her. "Satsuki, I want him… her back alive. Do whatever it takes but bring her back alive."

There was a strange, panicked tone to her voice that Satsuki could not identify but not one to disobey, she nodded and turned to her teammates, who had gathered around them. "You heard her. Have all Jounin and ANBU pursue her with the order to retrieve her alive at all costs," she told them, taking command of the situation. Already knowing, due to their previous fight, that she stood no chance against Ranma, Satsuki added, "I'll go ahead and stall her while you four bring as many shinobi as you can. We'll need every hand we can get to subdue her without killing her."

The four ANBU nodded and went directly to the stands, where some shinobi were still at a loss as to what to do, to relay the order while Satsuki quickly set out towards Ranma-chan, who was already halfway down to the village. 'Just who are you?' she asked mentally. 'Why would Shiori-sama react like that? Does this… Hotaru have something to do with it?' She shook her head clear as she continued running, chasing after the red-clad figure just barely visible due to the rain.

ANBU who had been patrolling the village began to intercept Ranma-chan as she ran through the village, slowing her down considerably. Though she wasn't at full strength, her skills were more than enough to match that of the ANBU that attempted to stop her. It was enough, however, as Satsuki took one last leap and landed in front of Ranma-chan just as she knocked out the last of the four that attempted to stop her.

"You do know you can't beat me, right?" Ranma-chan asked with a serious tone, glancing at Satsuki with what seems to be disappointment in her eyes.

"Perhaps," she replied, wondering for what reason Ranma-chan would be disappointed in her. 'But from what I've seen, you aren't at full strength. And the fact that you are in your female form means that you've sacrificed your strength for speed. With those two facts, I believe that we are just about even at this time."

"And that's why you'll lose."

"What?" came the sharp reply.

"Between two people whose strength is even, physically and mentally, do you know what the deciding factor is?" Not waiting for the young girl's answer, she continued. "Desire, persistence, willpower, that is what will decide who wins the fight. Now the question is, whose desire is stronger? Your desire to kill me? Or my desire to escape?"

"We'll just have to see, won't we?" Satsuki replied, leaving out the fact that she was there to recapture her. 'I'm still at a disadvantage though,' she admitted to herself despite her earlier words. 'Since I can't kill her I'll have to limit what techniques I use against her. I can only hope what I can use is enough.'

In that instant, both Satsuki and Ranma-chan rushed at each other, engaging the other in several bouts of unarmed combat. Neither one gained the upper hand for a while, their speed allowing them to easily dodge whatever attack came their way. But right after Ranma-chan dodged a punch from Satsuki, the latter realized too late that there was a white glow around the red-haired teen. And before she knew it she was flying back from the force of the explosion, smashing through the glass window of a nearby store. By the time she recovered from the attack, Ranma-chan was already dashing towards the village's east gate.

She quickly chased after the teen, thankful for her hardened skin. It didn't take long before Ranma-chan saw the gates, which were, of course, shut tight. But that didn't deter Ranma-chan at all. Gathering her chi in her hands, she fired two blasts at the gates. Despite their size and durability, the lower portion of the gates was now splintered due to the force of the attack. She ran through the new opening, followed by Satsuki several seconds later. By now, there were several Jounin running behind her to aid in the capture of Ranma-chan.

Ranma-chan cursed inwardly when she sensed the group chasing after her. Satsuki alone, she could handle. The five Jounin alone was the same, although it would be slightly harder due to their numbers. But both at the same time when not at full strength was certainly out of the question. Then there was the rain. The Land of Earth certainly lived up to its name. The are they were in was mountainous and the rain main the rocks slippery, not to mention the moss and the soil, now mud due to the rain. As such she had to be careful not to slip and fall as that would give her pursuers enough time to catch up.

She probably could have used her Chakra to help her much like water walking, but she had drained her trying to overload the Chakra Suppression seals the night before. Even her own chi reserves were quite low, just enough for one more fight, albeit only a quick one.

However, one misstep later, she found herself tumbling down the rocky mountain path, stopping only when she hit the side of the mountain. Satsuki and her group easily caught up to Ranma-chan, who had just stood up. "Give up now," Satsuki offered once, walking closer to Ranma-chan while the three Jounin stayed back. She already knew what she would have to fight but if they could avoid it then she wouldn't have to risk killing Ranma-chan and going against her orders.

"Sorry, but I can't die just yet," came the whispered reply that Satsuki barely heard over the falling rain. Two wisps of white energy left Ranma-chan's body, causing Satsuki to tense. The wisps of energy quickly gained more mass and a more solid form until two copies of Ranma-chan stood on either of her side. "I've got my own war to fight when I get home."

With that, the real Ranma-chan took off running while the two copies engaged her pursuers. Dodging the initial attack from the clone, Satsuki turned to the Jounin behind her. "Take out these two clones, I'll chase after her." Without waiting for a reply she took off as well, chasing after her quarry.

In front of her, Ranma-chan frowned. 'There goes the last of my reserves. And it doesn't look like Satsuki's giving up any time soon. Damn. I wonder how far the border is? I know it's about a week back to Konoha but I doubt I'll even make it to the border without resting. And with Satsuki right behind me I won't get any rest without fighting first. I'd rather be fighting Ryoga right about now. He'd just get lost and I can look for a place to rest.'

She jumped off the edge of the path, running down the mountainside followed closely by Satsuki. It was difficult sticking to the wet, moss covered rocks, but she didn't exactly have a choice at the moment. Stopping at a small ledge sticking out of the mountain, Ranma-chan launched herself into the air towards the neighboring mountain and began running up the side, often using her hands when she needed to.

'For someone who has never been to this country she certainly seems to have adapted well to the mountains,' thought Satsuki, amazed that asides from the earlier slip Ranma-chan had not slipped again. 'But if memory serves me right, I'll have a chance to take her soon enough.'

After climbing high enough, Ranma-chan reached another mountain path and followed it towards the east where Waterfall Country was located, an ally of Konoha. He stopped abruptly, however, when the path led him to the edge of a very steep, very high cliff. 'Well isn't this pretty cliché?' he asked himself as he looked down to find many jagged rocks and a narrow river. "You know," he said out loud. "If this were a story I'd probably manage to jump into the river from this height and completely miss all those pointy rocks."

"Well, too bad for you this isn't a story," replied Satsuki, as he turned around to see that her Byakugan was activated. "Now will you surrender? I can see that you're completely drained and physically tired as well."

"Sorry, but like I said. I can't die yet. I can't protect my friends and family if I'm dead after all."

"A fight it is then."

Before either fighter could even prepare for the inevitable fight, another person appeared behind Satsuki. "Shiori-sama!"

Shiori ignored Satsuki's reaction to her sudden appearance and looked at Ranma-chan with a strange look in her eyes. Looking into her eyes, Ranma-chan saw several things that she couldn't understand. Her eyes were filled with guilt, shame, fear, and anxiety, all at once. But for what reason did she feel these things when looking at her female form?

"Hotaru… I…"

"Look," began Ranma-chan, when she heard the name Shiori called out. "I'm not this Hotaru, whoever she is. I was born a guy, I turn into a girl when hit with cold water and back to a guy with hot water. I don't know what she was to you, but I'm not her."

Shiori didn't even seem to hear what she said because once she stopped talking, Shiori continued. "I'm… I'm so sorry… Hotaru," she spoke tearfully and if it wasn't for the rain, Ranma-chan was certain she would see tears running down her face. "Please… forgive me… I promise I won't let them take you again. So please… come back with me… I'll won't let them take you away from me again."

"Shiori-sama," Satsuki spoke out loud, hoping to get the Tsuchikage's attention. "This person is not Hotaru, whoever that is. I don't know who she is but I do know that this isn't her." With her Byakugan she looked behind her but found that Shiori was unresponsive and still staring at Ranma-chan with a pleading look, her hand held out and waiting for Ranma-chn to take it. Satsuki growled at this. 'If I attack Ranma now, Shiori-sama may think I'm attempting to hurt this Hotaru. But if I don't do anything, Ranma will take the opportunity to escape. I have no choice. Forgive me, Shiori-sama.'

With fire burning behind her eyes, Satsuki formed handseals and activated her Armor or Invulnerability. Another set of handseals later and the same flaming whip she used aginst Ranma at the underground tower appeared in her left hand. Despite the rain the flame continued to burn brightly, steam rising out from where the rain drops hit. "Prepare yourself!"

Seeing Satsuki ready to fight, Ranma-chan dropped into a stance and mustered what remaining power she had within her. 'I can probably stop that whip from burning me three, maybe four times, before I run out,' he thought, estimating how much chi he had left. "Don't think I'll go down that easily Satsuki. I'm Ranma Saotome. And Ranma Saotome never loses!"

_END CHAPTER 3_

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	31. Arc 3 Chapter 4

Terms of Engagement

By Overlord of Order and Overlord of Chaos

**SUMMARY: ****Many things have happened over the course of Ranma's life. But he soon learns that things were not as they first appeared, a lesson he has learned time and again. When he learns of the truth behind many events in his life, will he be up to the challenge?**

**This chapter is shorter than the previous one but hopefully not lacking in terms of content. Not much left to say but enjoy this new chapter.**

_Arc 3: World of the Amaranthine War_

_Chapter 4: Rare Happiness_

The sound of falling rain reached her ears as she woke from her deep slumber. She could barely move her body, not that she wanted to at the moment. The sound of the river was quite calming and helped her relax despite the pain that seemed to plague her entire body. Her other senses returned as her consciousness returned. Her nose picked up the smell of tea while her ears picked up the sound of footsteps. "Ah, you're awake," spoke a slightly weary, female voice. "I was beginning to think that you were perhaps in a coma when you didn't wake up after the first two days passed. I was going to take you to the hospital in Matsue if you didn't wake up by tomorrow morning. But I see there's no need for that."

"Wh-Where…" she managed to say in a hoarse voice before her vocal cords began to fail her.

"You're in my home, simply put. I live at the foot of the eastern end of the country's mountain range if that helps. I must say, of all the things I've come to expect I certainly didn't expect to find an unconscious girl upriver. For now though, get some rest. From my experiences the first time you wake up never lasts long so we'll talk once you can stay awake longer."

She barely managed a nod, admitting to herself that the woman was right as she felt herself begin to nod off. Before she did, she managed to whisper out, "Thank you."

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"How is she?" she heard a young girl just outside the door ask.

"Tsuchikage-sama is fine, physically anyway," came the reply. "Mentally and emotionally though, that's quite debatable. She's still in shock but she should be recovering from that soon. If what you've said is true then it will still take her a while to recover completely, even if it has been two days. After all, not many people can say that they lost someone dear to them twice."

"Someone… dear to them?" came the girl's voice. "So Shiori-sama knew this… Hotaru?"

"That goes without saying but yes, she did. It is, however, not my place to speak of it. I honestly doubt she will speak of it herself but it is her decision in the end. She would probably kill anyone who spoke of it without her permission so nobody you ask will tell you about it, willingly or not."

"I see. Thank you."

"Call for me if her condition changes. I'll be sure to have other doctors ready to stand-in for me in case I'm needed here."

The sound of footsteps walking away could be heard just as the door opened and another step of footsteps came towards her. "Satsuki?" she called out.

"Shiori-sama?" came the shocked reply before the footsteps hastened and the curtain around the bed was thrown open to reveal the young auburn haired girl. "Are you alright?"

"I'm… fine," she replied wearily then suddenly looked apprehensive. "Did… did you find her?"

Satsuki shook her head, somewhat sadly as well seeing as she never wanted to disappoint the Tsuchikage. "After the Jounin arrived to accompany you back, I had them send a team of trackers to that location while I went ahead to search. I descended the cliff and followed the river until it divided. When the trackers arrived at that location I sent them to search one direction while I searched the other. We followed the river until the borders but found no trace of Saotome. He most likely continued down the river and into one of the neighboring countries."

"Saotome?" Shiori asked, seemingly confused as to who it was when realization dawned on her. "I see. That… that was never Hotaru was it? Just a boy… Just a boy who somehow became female." She then thought back to the day of the execution, thinking of the moment when Ranma suddenly turned female. "You knew... didn't you?"

"Yes," came Satsuki's solemn reply. She had not meant to keep it hidden from Shiori, she had merely hoped to keep it hidden until the last moment or until after she learned Ranma's technique. In the end though she had completely forgotten to mention it to her superior, and that mistake had cost them.

"Why did you not inform me when you learned of it?" she asked heatedly, her stern gaze directed upon Satsuki. "You knew what he was planning at that time, meaning you knew of his ability to change beforehand. He, himself, stated that cold water turns him into a girl and hot water into a boy therefore it wasn't merely an illusion. So tell me, why did you not inform me of this earlier?"

"I apologize Shiori-sama. But I thought that if I used it as a bargaining chip to learn one of his techniques, I could-"

"You could what?" Shiori interrupted furiously. "Kill me with it?" At those words, Satsuki's eyes widened in shock. "Is that it then? You thought you could kill me if you learned one of his techniques?"

"O-Of course not!" Satsuki yelled back in a panicked voice. "Why would I even think of betraying you? You took me in and gave me a purpose when I had nothing after you found me."

"Is that so?" she asked scornfully. "And I suppose you're satisfied being a slave to me until the day you died?"

"Wh-What?" Satsuki paled upon hearing those words, remembering when she had said that to Ranma after their fight in the burning tower.

"So you don't deny the fact that you not only told Saotome about that, but you also used those very words?"

"N-No… I don't," she replied solemnly, accepting the fact that her feelings on the matter were now out in the open.

"I see."

Shiori reached into her robes and pulled out a scroll that Satsuki was all too familiar with. Already she could feel the pain she would suffer for her actions. It would be like that time she attempted to leave. As she shut her eyes and prepared for the inevitable pain that was to come, her only thoughts were spent on wondering how long she would be placed under the pain of the seal before she was killed. She heard the sound of the scroll being opened and sensed Shiori gathering Chakra into her hand. Her eyes shut tighter than ever, ready to feel immense, otherworldly pain.

When nothing happened for a few moments, she idly wondered if she had suffered so much pain in a short amount of time that her nerves had been destroyed. But then she realized she could smell something burning. She cracked her eyes open a bit, looked up and then opened her eyes completely when she saw the scroll in flames. In but a few seconds the scroll had turned to ashes. "Shiori-sama?" she asked, wide-eyed.

"Don't misunderstand me," came the somewhat angry reply. "I may have removed the seal on you and burned the control seal, but that changes nothing. Despite your recent actions, you've served me faithfully all this time. You wanted to be free? Well now you are."

"However," she began sharply, cutting off the words of thanks already on the tip of Satsuki's tongue. "As of today you are no longer a shinobi of Iwa," she finished as she shut her eyes.

Satsuki didn't know what to feel at this point. While she was relieved, happy even, that she was not punished nor would she ever have to fear that particular punishment, she was disheartened to hear that she was no longer considered a shinobi. Before she could further think of her current situation, Shiori continued to speak.

"I suggest you leave the village as soon as you can because come tomorrow," she paused to direct an angry glare at the auburn haired girl. "You will be listed as a traitor to Iwa and placed in the Bingo Books."

"Sh-Shiori-sama?! But… But why?"

"Would you rather be executed today then?" Shiori shot back angrily, startling Satsuki greatly. "As I said, do not misunderstand my actions. I want you to suffer for what you've done before you die. You wanted to be free, well now you are. I hope you enjoy the life you would have lived had I chosen to ignore you that day that you were found. Now get out of my sight and pray I never see you again."

Satsuki was completely speechless as countless feelings welled up within her. Confusion and sadness, however, dominated at the moment. Her confusion stemmed from the lack of understanding of the situation, despite Shiori's explanations, while her sadness came from understanding Shiori's final statement. In the past, before her first escape attempt, she was happy, truly happy. She had found someone who cared for her, someone she trusted, someone she would do anything for, and, most importantly, someone who gave her a purpose in life.

But during that fateful day, her happiness had changed. Her purpose was still the same, she still trusted her, and was willing to do everything she asked. But she no longer felt the same happiness she felt back when Shiori cared for her as though she were her own daughter. At that time, she merely felt content knowing she had a purpose and that there was someone she could trust with her life.

And in one single moment, all of that was left of their original relationship had disappeared. The woman she trusted so much had just exiled her, labeling her a traitor, most likely to be killed on sight. With her exile she no longer had a purpose, one that she accomplished by being a loyal shinobi of Iwa. And though she would still willingly do anything for Shiori, it just wasn't the same as when Shiori trusted her.

It was then that she felt true fear. Just a few moments ago, if anyone asked her what she feared the most, she would have replied that she feared Shiori the most, especially if she were to fail a task given to her by said woman. Now though, she found something else to fear. She found that the mere thought of having nothing to live for scared her even more than the Tsuchikage. To live but having nothing at all, to have no one to care for you or to care for, and to have nothing to live for, such an existence was something she now knew to fear above all others.

Without even realizing it, she was already running down the streets of Iwa and through the heavy rain, heading towards the nearest gate, which happened to be the south gate. Nobody stopped her or questioned her as she rushed out the gates and into the Kusaka Mountain Range, which surrounded all of Iwa. It made traveling to and from Iwa difficult but it served its purpose of holding back any invading force.

She didn't care where she was going anymore. She ran as fast as she could, boosting her speed with as much Chakra as she could muster for as long as she could and using it to stick to the path, which was now wet and muddy due to the heavy rain. By the time she was running low on Chakra she had left the mountain range and was somewhere in the middle of the forest located at the foot of the mountains. She put one hand on the trunk of the tree and leaned against it, sweat and rainwater pouring down her face as she panted for air. Her lungs burned and her muscles ached in protest as she struggled to keep going, using the trees as support whenever she was near one.

Normally a trip from Iwa to the plains and forests bordering the mountain range was not enough to tire out even a Chuunin. However, Satsuki had been forcing as much Chakra as she could into her legs, heedless of how much of her Chakra she was using at a time. And now she was paying for her carelessness, not that she could have cared at the moment seeing as her mind still trying to process everything that had just happened. It was understandable. To lose everything you held dear in just a few short moments could break even the strongest and most rational of men.

But now her carelessness was beginning cost more than she could afford at the moment. Her vision began to blur and it took all she had to even take another step towards an unknown destination. 'I can't stop here or they'll catch up tomorrow,' she thought. 'But then, maybe it's better for me to die. A broken blade has no use after all.'

As her vision began to darken and her body began to slump forward, a face suddenly appeared in her mind's eye. 'You're so annoying,' she thought as her body finally collapsed and she lay prone on the muddy forest floor, just barely staying conscious. 'Even now that you're gone and I have no reason to interact with you in any way, you're still here to annoy me. Although I can't deny that it was nice having known you, even for just a short while. Farewell… Saotome.' With that final thought, Satsuki succumbed to her weariness and shut her eyes, a small part of her praying for an Iwa shinobi to find her and take away her suffering.

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"Hokage-sama!"

"What is it?" Growled the blonde Hokage, startling the Jounin who had rushed into the room. Looking at the village leader, though, explained his annoyance. There were piles of paperwork on the table and some were piled up on the floor beside the table. Idly he wondered if the Hokage would ever think to use Shadow Clones. "Well?" growled Naruto, beginning to grow more impatient with the man. "What's so important that you had to barge in here like this?"

"Oh uh… well… that is… we received word from one of our spies."

"And?" he asked impatiently, the brush in his hand beginning to splinter from the pressure exerted upon it by the Hokage.

"One of our spies in Earth Country has just learned that a prisoner of Iwa has just escape. The escapee was said to be a female with red hair."

All of Naruto's anger drained out of him at that last statement as he thought of any red haired female that he knew and came up with only one red haired female that was still alive, to his knowledge anyway. "Is it… Ranma?"

"The spy isn't certain Hokage-sama," came the reply from the Jounin. "Seeing as he was stationed to patrol one of the nearby towns a week ago it wasn't until yesterday that he found out about the prisoner. The spies posing as civilians had no knowledge of a new prisoner in Iwa at all."

"I see," he replied calmly. 'That would explain the lack of information. I can't really expect Hiro to give reports when he isn't there to hear it and it isn't surprising that Ranma's imprisonment didn't spread through Iwa well enough for it to reach civilian ears. Looks like the Tsuchikage knew of the possibility that we'd send in someone to break him out even if was imprisoned deep within their village.'

"You're dismissed," he said to the Jounin, who nodded and left to deliver the spy's report to their Intelligence division. "I guess it's a good thing I sent Kiba on that mission. Now all we can do is wait and prepare for the next battle."

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The sound of the falling rain hit her ears once more, just like the last time she woke from blissful sleep. Only this time it was nothing more than a light shower. She could still feel a dull pain all over her body despite not moving but she only attributed that to the reason she was there in the first place. 'Never expected the fight to end that way,' she mused, thinking about the conclusion to their fight.

She attempted to sit up but before she could even try she felt a hand push down lightly on her shoulder. "Now, now, you should know better than to try that. You may be a fast healer but even you have your limits."

"I guess," came the soft reply.

"Well, at any rate you seem well enough considering the state you were in when I found you. Wait here a moment while I finish up in the kitchen. After sleeping for three days I'm sure you're quite hungry."

As though agreeing with the woman's statement, her stomach chose that moment to let out a loud growl. The woman laughed at that as she walked away to fetch her guest something to eat. Moments later she returned and helped her guest sit up. "Thanks," she said, bowing as much as she could under her current condition.

"You're quite welcome child," replied the woman, handing the girl the bowl of soup.

She watched as she brought the bowl up to her lips and taking a small sip. Her eyes brightened up immediately and she turned to her host with a wide smile on her face. "This is pretty good."

"I'm glad you like it," replied the woman with a smile. "An old friend of mine taught me how to make it. Actually you're quite fortunate to be able to taste it. The herbs I use don't grow around here so I can only make it when my friend visits the south."

"Guess that means I shouldn't waste it then," Ranma-chan replied before taking another sip of the soup, taking care not to spill any as it might trigger her transformation. As she drank the soup, she took the opportunity to gaze at the woman who had most likely saved her. She appeared to be in her forties, with shoulder length, graying, brown hair with matching brown eyes. She was wearing a white yukata with red floral prints, held shut by a red obi. Finishing off the last of the soup, Ranma-chan placed the bowl beside the futon she was laying on. "Thanks again for everything."

"It's nothing child. Oh, how rude, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Yuri Togasaki. And you are?"

"Ranma," she replied. "Ranma Saotome."

"Quite a strange name to give to a girl, especially one of such beauty."

Ranma-chan blushed and gave a sheepish grin at the compliment, not really knowing how to explain it. "Well, what can I say? My parents wanted a strong kid."

"I suppose. But they should know that it is not the name's meaning that dictates who the child is, but who the child becomes that dictates what the name means when people hear it."

"I guess."

"Now, if you don't mind my asking, what were you doing up in the mountains three days ago? Surely a ninja such as yourself would know how dangerous these mountains are during a storm."

"Ninja?"

"Aren't you one?" the woman asked, looking somewhat perplexed. "I'm sorry. It's just that I sensed so much Chakra within you that I assumed you were a kunoichi."

"No, you're not wrong. I was just wondering how you knew, that's all. I just didn't realize there were people here who could sense Chakra without being shinobi themselves."

"And what makes you think I wasn't a kunoichi at some point of my life?" Yuri asked mirthfully. "But we're not talking about myself. What were you doing up in the mountains?"

Ranma-chan sighed, hoping to be able to avoid their current conversation, especially by someone who was once a kunoichi, possibly even from Iwa. "I was… running."

"Running?"

Ranma-chan nodded. "Yeah. I was captured after the last battle about a week ago. They were gonna kill me three days ago but I escaped just before they did. And I'm pretty sure you know what happened while I was trying to run."

"If Iwa captured you then I can safely assume you are from either Konoha or Suna seeing as Kiri has yet to join the war. But your clothing, while not common in either village, is more suited for the temperate climate of Konoha," she deduced with seemingly no effort at all, causing Ranma-chan to worry inwardly. Despite not showing any outward signs, however, the woman seemed to know. "You don't have to worry about me telling them you're here. I may have been an Iwa kunoichi once, but those times are behind me now. Of course, it's a completely different matter if they come here looking for you."

"I see. Thanks again," Ranma-chan replied with a sheepish grin, greatly relieved. "And sorry for all the trouble."

"It's no trouble at all," replied Yuri. "You should rest for now. Once the rain stops I'll go and gather some of the nearby herbs to help with your recovery. Knowing you Konoha shinobi you'll want to be up and about as soon as you can."

Her last statement confused Ranma-chan. "You sound like you've treated a lot of them before."

"That's because I have."

"When?" she asked, her curiosity growing by the second.

The woman smirked in response. "Ask me no questions and I'll tell you no lies."

Ranma-chan groaned at that, wondering what it was with people and keeping secrets. Then again she was one to talk, hiding the fact that she was actually a he. Accepting the fact that she wouldn't be getting an answer to her question, Ranma-chan shut her eyes, wondering how everyone in Konoha was dealing with her capture.

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She never knew that returning to consciousness could be both a relieving and fearful thing. Relieving in a way that she was still alive, fearful that she would be waking into a nightmare. But at the moment, relief won out when she felt that she was no longer lying on the ground but was wrapped in something warm and soft. Opening her eyes she found herself staring at the familiar interior of a tent. 'How did I get here? Did a shinobi find me already?' she asked herself. 'I guess I really have a whole day to run if whoever found me hasn't killed me yet, just like Shiori-sa…' her thoughts paused abruptly, her chest tightening at the reminder of what had happened earlier that day. 'No, I no longer have to call her that,' Satsuki told herself trying to find something, anything at all, to take her mind away from the source of her pain but failing to do so. If anything the loss of having one to follow simply reminded her of everything again.

Fortunately, someone decided to distract her from her internal pains. "Oh, you're awake." Looking down from her perspective, Satsuki saw a woman with short, graying black hair sticking her head into the tent, her eyes and face smiling brightly. "That's a relief. It's just short of a miracle you survived so long with so little chakra left in your system."

"Maybe I wanted to die," she replied tonelessly, not wanting the woman to know what kind of pain she was in.

"Now, now, you just need to find another reason to live," replied the woman, shocking Satsuki. "Why are you so surprised?" she replied, as she entered the tent and kneeled by Satsuki's head, early finding Satsuki's shock to be amusing. "I used to be a medic-nin you know. I've seen my fair share of shinobi losing their will to live."

"Well, I won't be finding another one," replied Satsuki. "A broken weapon is a useless one. No one will have any use for me."

"Then perhaps you should find someone or something to live for that doesn't include being a weapon."

"You make it sound so easy. I've been trained for as long as I can remember for the sole purpose of being a weapon to kill," said Satsuki, closing her eyes to hide the pain from the woman. "To serve one person, to kill for that person, and to die for her, that was my purpose. And now, I've lost it all. The only thing I can do for her now would be to die to make up for my failure. And yet I can't even have the pleasure of being killed by her. Instead I'm to be hunted down. Even Saotome was shown more respect than I was. He was given the choice of how to die."

Had her eyes been open she would have seen the look of shock on the woman's face but she neither saw it nor felt the sudden shift of the air as the other woman's entire demeanor tensed. By the time she opened her eyes again, the woman's worried look disappeared and was replaced by one akin to sympathy. "Don't give me that look. Your pity is wasted on me. Surely there are others much more deserving of it than myself."

"But if not me, then who?" she asked in return, gazing down at the child before her. "You may not realize it but having someone, sometimes even a stranger, show their concern for you can be quite comforting. You're not the first person to feel unwanted or unneeded and you're certainly not the only one. Others aren't as fortunate as you to be able to have even a single person care for them, even from a distance."

"Fortunate?" scoffed Satsuki, looking scornfully at the woman. "How can you call my situation fortunate?" she asked heatedly, her voice rising in volume with every word. "I have nothing left to live for and the one person I want to live for wants nothing more to do with me. I could have been satisfied had she killed me but now I have to settle for being hunted down like some sort of animal. You can't possibly understand what I'm going through now."

"You're right, I don't," came the swift, yet soft, reply, catching Satsuki off guard. "But that doesn't mean I can't sympathize. My teacher and master once told me that those who can feel the pain of others are both blessed and burdened."

"How can one be both at the same time?"

"They are blessed because their gift to feel the pain of others allows them to share the burdens of another should they allow that person to help them. They are given the chance to be able to share and understand the pain of others, to help those who have no one else to lean on, and eventually to help them cope with what pain remains within them. Yet they are burdened because no single person can help everyone. To be able to feel and understand the pain of others, and yet be unable to help them, such times are when they find that their gift isn't as desirable as it once was. They wish that they did not have such a gift, that they remained ignorant of the pain of others so that they would not in turn feel such pain when they are unable to help."

"And I suppose you are one of them?"

The woman shook her head, somewhat sadly in Satsuki's opinion. "No, but I often wish I was. I can only relate to the pain of others when I have been through similar experiences. Other times, I can only image what pain they feel but I can never feel it to the same extent, not enough to truly sympathize."

"…" After a moment of silence, Satsuki asked, "So you've lost your reason for living once before?"

The woman nodded slowly, her eyes and face reflecting her sadness much more than Satsuki thought possible, making her look much older than she already did. "When my master died, I felt as though I had no reason to live. She was my sole remaining link to my family. And if my uncle were still alive she would have been my aunt. But even when he died, she was there for me. She became my only family, despite how… dysfunctional our family seemed at times. And though I found and made many friends none of them could give me what she gave me."

"How did you cope with it? How did you cope with losing everything you had to live for?"

"It was hard but it will definitely not compare to what you're going through. I had many friends by my side to help me, even if they weren't the ones to pull me out of my depression. Others can only help you so much at times like these, but it makes all the difference having even just one person by your side during an ordeal. In the end though, it falls to us to find a new reason for living. Sometimes it may just be right under your nose and you simply didn't see it. I know that that's what happened to me."

They just waited in silence as the woman tried to shake away the sadness brought up by the past while Satsuki tried to digest the woman's words. Due to her upbringing Satsuki found many concepts laid out by the woman hard to understand. Why would others bother to help? Surely they have better things to do than to take care of someone who can't even control their own emotions. And then there was the fact that she had found another reason to live. She found one but for someone like Satsuki, who lived to serve but one person, there was absolutely no one else that could replace her. She couldn't understand completely just why the thought of anyone replacing Shiori angered her and caused her pain but that was how she felt about it. And nothing in the world would change that.

It was the woman who then broke the long silence. "Well, I best leave you to rest now. If you need me I'll be in the other tent with Chika-chan."

Satsuki nodded absently, still thinking about what the woman had said. But just before she left, she called out and said, "I never got you name."

The woman turned around and replied with a smile, "I'm Shizune."

Satsuki nodded and said, "Satsuki."

"Well, good night, Satsuki-chan."

Had the woman not shown so much kindness Satsuki would have growled at the way she was addressed but held it in. She shut her eyes in silence and thought back to their conversation. Just before she drifted off to sleep, she muttered, "You're wrong about one thing Shizune-san. I do have someone who cares about me. I just didn't care that he did." And as she fell asleep, a small tear went unnoticed as it made its way out of the corner of her eye and down the side of her face.

_END CHAPTER 4_

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	32. Arc 3 Chapter 5

Terms of Engagement

By Overlord of Order and Overlord of Chaos

**SUMMARY: ****Many things have happened over the course of Ranma's life. But he soon learns that things were not as they first appeared, a lesson he has learned time and again. When he learns of the truth behind many events in his life, will he be up to the challenge?**

_Arc 3: World of the Amaranthine War_

_Chapter 5: Bonds of Trust_

"What makes you think that I care?"

"Wh-what? But you said-"

"Said what? That I care about what happens to you even if we're enemies?" He laughed mockingly as he looked down on her pleading form. "Did you actually believe that? Do you actually believe that I'd care what happens to a killer? We're shinobi," he proclaimed, his tone sounding gleeful yet sadistic. "We have no hearts."

"But I-"

"But what?" he interrupted again, sneering at her as tears poured forth from her eyes. "You've killed a lot of people and that's all there is to it."

"No… stop it…" she whispered, covering her ears with her hands to try and drown out the voice but failing miserably.

"What's this? You're crying again?" came another voice, this one rougher and more than just a little familiar to her. "I can't understand what Tsuchikage-sama sees in you. All I see is a weak, pathetic crybaby. How Tsuchikage-sama expects me to turn a weakling like you into a full-fledged shinobi is beyond me."

"Forget it, they'll never accept you," sneered a third, and yet another, familiar voice. "After all, you'll need _his_ approval if you want refuge in their village. But will he give it knowing you nearly killed his wife?"

"Oho, you nearly killed her?" came the first voice and she could practically see the smug grin on his face. "And you actually think I'm going to help you after you did that? How long did you think you could hide that before I found out from someone that you nearly killed a friend of mine?"

"No… stop it… stop it…" she whispered again and again, trying to drown out the jeering voices that told her repeatedly of what she'd done. "I only did what I had to," she said, slightly louder this time, as tears continued to flow down her face. "I only did it for the Tsuchikage… for the one person that meant anything to me…"

"I said stop crying!" yelled the second voice. "You're a shinobi! Cut every bond you have and kill your heart. All you should have is loyalty to the Tsuchikage. Screw everything else. Your orders and your strength are all you'll ever need to serve your leader. Anything else will just get in the way."

"No… there's more than that… I know now…"

All three voices laughed once more, mocking her beliefs.

"No… stop it… stop it…" she continued to whisper, her voice gradually raising in volume as the voices continued to mock her, laughing and taunting her without reprieve. "Stop it… stop it… stop it! STOP IT!!"

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The next day passed without much in the way of excitement or interest. Both Satsuki and Ranma-chan, under the care of Shizune and Yuri respectively, spent the whole day recovering from their escape from Iwa. However, that did not necessarily mean that they had to like it. Both insisted that they were already more than well enough to travel but neither Shizune nor Yuri had even allowed them out of their bed.

Ranma-chan had even go so far as to attempt to sneak out of the house while Yuri was out gathering herbs to at least keep her body fit with an hour or four of training. Sadly it was not meant to be. She quickly found out that though she had not been an active shinobi in nearly twenty years, Yuri was still quite adept at setting traps. The house itself was quite safe but the moment she set foot outside it took all her years of hard work to avoid them all. Even then it was not enough as she inevitably found herself hanging upside down from a tree branch with a large net wrapped around her body.

Satsuki, on the other hand, had complied with Shizune's request to rest for another day, albeit grudgingly, when firmly stated that, "I will not let you go unless you are either at peak condition or are no longer suicidal, which ever comes first." Though she did not tell the woman, Satsuki had found a small ray of hope the previous night just as she fell asleep. That ray of hope, however, was quickly snuffed out. Her self-esteem, already broken by the Tsuchikage herself, was now close to non-existent.

Despite the hope that welled up inside her the previous night her return to consciousness that morning brought about many sobering thoughts. The first and foremost thought was that Ranma lived in Konoha. She soon came to realize that after living there for quite some time she felt much more comfortable living there than in Iwa. But at that time, or any other time in fact, comfort did not equate to happiness. But she soon came to realize that it was not Konoha that brought that feeling of comfort. It was not where she lived and under what conditions, but rather who she was with that made the difference. Thinking about it further she felt the same way when she lived in Iwa before her first escape attempt.

But also living in Konoha was Naruto Uzumaki, the Hokage of Konoha and killer of her father, Orochimaru. He had been against her living in Konoha before so what would make him change his mind now? Not only that, but her actions during the previous battle would certainly seal his decision to kill her on sight regardless of who stopped him.

Just before she had returned to the tower upon hearing of the infiltration she had spotted Hinata Uzumaki, formerly Hinata Hyuuga of the Hyuuga Clan. The fact that she seemed to be scolding Naruto was enough of a distraction as she attacked. And as a mocking gesture, she activated her Byakugan just as Hinata spun around when Naruto, revealed to be Keiji with her Byakugan, warned her of her approach.

And if seeing the eyes of her deceased father on the face of an enemy was not enough, Satsuki struck her with an open palm strike to the chest, sending a powerful burst of chakra into the center of her chest, a sensation Hinata was all too familiar with from training with her family. Though her attack was less refined compared to an attack from on who had been properly trained, Satsuki believed it was sufficient enough to get the point across. If she hadn't received word about the infiltration at that time she would have been more than happy to finish the task and strike down one person close to Naruto. Though she would have preferred it to be the real Naruto instead of his son made to look like him, the look of horror on his face as he watched his mother fall was more than worth it in her opinion.

That one decision would certainly be enough reason for him to deny her entrance to Konoha despite what anyone would tell him, if his previous reasons for wanting to kill her were not enough already. No, there was simply no way she could turn to Ranma for help so long as he lived within Konoha. Not when his wife was either dead or critically injured due to her attack.

'It looks like this is one promise you cannot keep,' she thought bitterly and with more than a hint of sadness as she thought to his whispered words during their most recent battle. 'And then there's the war itself.'

Even if she were to be accepted into Konoha, Naruto would undoubtedly ask for something in return to prove her trustworthiness. And that task would no doubt have something to do with the war instead of simply having her Chakra restrained. 'But I'd rather not get involved in the war if it means possibly fighting against her,' she thought somberly. 'That's what he'll probably ask me to do to prove myself anyway. If I can't fight for her then I'll at least stay out of the way.'

And then, there was the biggest factor of all. Herself. Could she truly bring herself to find another reason to live while Shiori was still alive? Granted she didn't want anything to do with Satsuki now but that didn't mean that she no longer had anything to do with Satsuki. She was the reason she was alive and not buried under a pile of rubble in Orochimaru's now destroyed hideout. She was the reason she grew strong, the reason she pushed herself to grow beyond her limits. And even now that she had pushed her away, Satsuki wanted nothing more than to be back by her side, even if it meant bearing that accursed seal once again. There was simply no one who could replace her nor did she want to replace the woman who she owed everything to.

"You look troubled. Something wrong?"

Satsuki snapped out of her thoughts at the sound of a voice and she looked to the tent flap to see Chika, Shizune's companion. "It's nothing," she replied to the girl. "Just wondering what to do after I recover."

"Well, at least you're not thinking about running away," Chika offered with a grin as she entered the tent and sat down beside Satsuki. "So, care to talk about it?"

"You wouldn't understand."

"Try me."

Satsuki thought about telling her just to get her to leave. She learned earlier that day that once Chika set her mind on something she was very hard to convince to do otherwise. And just that morning she was going on about wanting to go back somewhere since she still wanted to go on a date with some girl. That had made Satsuki pause for a moment but she quickly dismissed it. It was no concern of hers, after all, if two women wanted to pursue a relationship with each other. "Have you," she began honestly wondering why she even considered it. "Ever lost someone important to you?"

"Yeah. I lost my mother when I was eleven. Why?"

Satsuki's eyes turned large at the response. It was certainly not the kind of response she was expecting. "How can-"

"How can I talk about it like it's nothing?" Chika asked, finished what she assumed would be Satsuki's question. "Well, it's mainly because I know she wouldn't want me to feel bad about it. Besides, why should I feel bad when I think about my mother? Sure she died, but that doesn't mean I should be sad. I felt sad when she died, true. But I can't stay sad and depressed forever. If I did, she's probably come back to life just to scold me. Besides, there are other important people in my life, my dad and Shizune for example. Although, our relationship is a bit… strange I guess."

"Strange? How?"

"Well, did she tell you about her family?"

"All she said was that her uncle died and her teacher would have been her aunt had he not died."

"That's enough I guess. Her teacher is my mother, simply put. So say her uncle never died, she'd be my cousin, even though she's way older than I am and that I think of her as more of my aunt. But after my mother died, well, she… she sort of replaced her." Before Satsuki could even ask, she said, "Not in the way you're thinking. My dad was never really the family type, not that he neglected me or anything, but he simply didn't know how to raise a child. So Shizune took up that job seeing as she'd been helping my mom raise me since I was born. Don't tell her though, but I do love her as though she were my second mother. Not that I'd tell her that anytime soon though," she added with a wide grin. "I've got an image to maintain after all."

"But... how could you do that?" Satsuki asked, her tone both serious and confused. "How… how could you replace someone so important in your life?"

Chika smiled softly as she looked down on the smaller girl, understand just where she was coming from. "You know, I used to ask myself that same question before. But instead of thinking of it as replacing someone important in your life, think of it as adding another person to your list of important people. And if they were already important to you before, just think of it as having another mother, another parent, like I did."

"Just another addition to what you already have, huh?" Chika smiled brightly as Satsuki seemed to understand, but then her face turned somewhat mischievous. "You know, I think I can see why you see her as your mother."

"Why's that?"

"You're both strange," she replied with a small grin.

"S-strange?"

"You both told me things about your past that most people would only tell their families and close friends. I don't understand how you can just tell me those things."

"Well, who's to say we don't know you?"

"What?" came the deadpan reply.

"To be honest we've known who you were the moment we found you. We've actually met in person once before. I'm actually surprised you didn't recognize us immediately. I mean, how could you forget this after all," she finished with a grin, bringing her hands up to heft her large bosom.

Satsuki thought back as far as she could, trying to remember where she could have met such a person. Unfortunately she came up empty, unable to remember where she had seen Shizune or her tall, large-breasted, pseudo-daughter before. "Sorry, but I really don't remember."

"Aw," Chika pouted at that, looking disappointed that the girl didn't remember her. "Oh well, I'm sure you'll remember some day. Anyway like I was saying, we knew who you were as soon as we saw your face."

"But what did that have to do with anything? All I've ever done is kill people. How could knowing that show you that you could trust me with something so personal?" She asked dubiously

"Well, what shinobi hasn't taken a life at least once in their career other than a dead one?" Chika asked in return. "It's why I didn't stay in my village even after I went back for a visit just recently. I want to help them," she stated, growing somber at what she just said. "I really do. But I really don't have it in me to kill or even to just stay close to a place with so much bloodshed. Even though I trained as a medic-nin, I can't stand being around so much death."

Chika shook her head, her somber mood disappearing completely. "Anyway, I'm getting sidetracked. But what I want to say is that the fact that you've killed doesn't really mean much if you're a shinobi. My father has killed countless people in fact, my mother and Shizune too. But it doesn't make them any less trustworthy."

"So what is it that made you so sure you could trust me?" Satsuki asked once more.

"The fact that you saved someone's life is enough proof that you're worthy of our trust."

"Saved… someone's life? When?"

Chika grinned and pushed herself up from her seated position, as much as she could inside the tent anyway given her height. "If I'm right about what your next plans are then I'm sure you'll find out soon enough. Anyway, you should get some rest. Shizune says you'll be completely recovered by tomorrow and I'm sure you'll want to head out as soon as you can. I don't know what the hell you did that caused you to nearly die of Chakra depletion, but don't do it again alright?" she stated, much like a mother reprimanding her child. "I'm sure that someone out there will be sad if you die because no one's around to help you the next time around."

Satsuki was about to rebut that fact when the same face she saw in her mind's eye the previous night appeared once more, speaking several words that she had heard before. _"I would."_

"Yes," she finally replied after some time. "I suppose you're right about that."

Chika smiled in response before leaving the tent, genuinely happy that she seemed to understand what she said as opposed to the previous night when Shizune was to convince her of that same fact.

But despite all that, Satsuki was still highly doubtful of the fact that she would find refuge in Konoha. But now, however, she was more certain of one thing. And that one fact was more than enough to overcome her doubts. Whether or not she would be welcome in the village, Konoha was her next destination.

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Looking down upon the village, Shiori Koji let out a weary sigh. Despite the fact that it was a sunny day, as opposed to the past few days of non-stop rain, she still felt as though it were a gloomy, rainy day. So much had happened the past few days that her mind was still somewhat muddled. Two things, however, stood out clearly in her memory of the past few days. They were the sight of a person dear to her who had long departed the earth, and the betrayal of one of her most loyal shinobi. 'What have I done for fate to play such a cruel joke on me?' she asked herself once more, having asked herself that question time and again since the previous day. 'To not only give me hope by showing _her_ and then shattering that hope, but to have me be betrayed by my most loyal shinobi,' she reflected replaying both events clearly and painfully. 'What action have I done to deserve that? Or is it that I am fated to suffer such pains throughout my entire life?'

She looked upon the villagers inhabiting the village she protected, she smiled sadly as she saw the various villagers mingling about, interacting with their friends and, more importantly, their family. What she wouldn't give to have either one of the two at the moment. But for a woman in her position it was quite difficult. Due to the village's previous leader, the shinobi had gotten used to following strict leadership and to change that, in the middle of a war of all times, would be disastrous. There were only a few shinobi who maintained bonds of friendship with another person, and none of them were shinobi she knew personally. For her to suddenly seek out one of them for friendship would certainly be reason enough to arouse suspicion.

And due to her reputation as a shinobi before she became the Tsuchikage, very few men had dared to go near her. Only one person had dared to try and earn her affection in the past, and that relationship ended badly for him. And now that she was the Tsuchikage none had even dared to speak to her unless it was for official matters. Such was the life she led, and the reason why Satsuki's betrayal had hurt so much.

Though Satsuki was just like any other shinobi under her command, she alone held a special place within her heart of stone. She would never admit it to anyone but Satsuki reminded her of what it felt to love another, something she had not felt for years by the time the two met. And now, true to what she had been taught as a child, the bonds her heart had formed only caused her pain in the end. The one person she trusted above all, the first person she had allowed into her heart for a long time, had betrayed her in order to help someone else.

'Then again, I probably only have myself to blame,' she said to herself, thinking about everything that's led up to that point. From the day she first spoke with Satsuki, to the night she tried to escape, to the day she made Satsuki her personal bodyguard when not on a mission, to the day she was betrayed. 'But in the end, we all choose our own paths. Who's to say that she would not have betrayed me had I done things differently?'

'Perhaps if I did not train her the way I was trained then she would have been different,' she mused, thinking about her past and her upbringing. 'She would not be as strong as she is now but I suppose that would have been a small price to pay to not feel this pain again.'

'But I suppose you and I are more alike than we realized,' she thought, looking towards the mountains surrounding Iwa where Satsuki had run off to the previous day. 'Both of us found happiness in another village, a village that would turn us away due to our past actions. Both you and I attacked and nearly killed the same person, although our reasons for doing so were different. But between you and I, you were the more courageous one. You would go so far as to betray the person who held your life in their hands in order to pursue what brought you happiness.'

'Perhaps if I had not been so weak in my youth, then maybe I too would have been able to pursue my heart's desire. But then… If I had followed my heart that day then I would never have met the other two people who have managed to earn a place in my heart.' She shook her head dejectedly. 'No, I have chosen my path and you, yours. Perhaps I may have been happier had I chosen a different path, but that matters not now.'

'The path our lives take is determined by the decisions we make, but it is the people, ourselves especially, and events on those paths that determine the quality of our lives. Hopefully your path will be better than mine. You have found something to live for while all I have left is revenge. Farewell Satsuki. Hopefully, the next time we meet will be under better circumstance.'

Turning away from the window, Shiori walked to her desk where lay two pieces of paper that stood out among the rest.

The first was a report from their research department. Their special project was finally complete and they were now awaiting her orders regarding the project.

The other was a letter from the Raikage, detailing a well-planned joint attack between the two of them. There was no doubt in her mind that it would succeed. Genius or not, Shikamaru Nara was but a man. Even he was bound to overlook a key detail at some point. And the plan the Raikage had come up with was one such plan that took advantage of that very fact. Regardless of which army came to fight, Suna's, Konoha's, Kiri's, Kusa's, Ame's or even all of them combined, Iwa and Kumo would emerge victorious.

Shiori sat down at her desk and, pulling out a blank sheet of paper, began writing down her reply as well as some suggestions to the battle plan given to her. 'If all goes well this could very well be the deciding battle of the war. And then,' she paused, looking to the photograph on her desk under a Genjutsu. Removing the Genjutsu she placed upon it, she picked up the photograph and gazed at it longingly, her eyes drawn to an eleven-year-old girl with shoulder length red hair. 'I'll finally be able to avenge you Hotaru.'

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"So you were a Konoha kunoichi then?" asked Ranma-chan, surprised to learn of that little detail about her host.

"For a brief period," replied Yuri. "I'd been betrayed by the Tsuchikage at that time when I was sent off on a mission. My team had been ordered to kill me once the mission was completed. However, they failed to kill me though I was captured and taken to Konoha for questioning. I didn't know I'd been betrayed by the Tsuchikage, so I refused to say anything just as any good shinobi would do. But when I was given authentic proof that I had been betrayed, I told them everything."

"And you just believed that he betrayed you?"

"It's not the kind of evidence you can refute very easily. After all, how much more authentic can it be than to have the Tsuchikage himself tell you that you had outlived your usefulness?"

"Ah, sorry."

"Don't be, child. I got over it a long time ago. After that, I stated my desire to be a kunoichi of Konoha. Of course, given that I'd killed many of them I had to serve out my sentence for what I had done. I was imprisoned for a several long months, and then after I was released I was forced to live a civilian's life while the Hokage tried to convince the shinobi council that I was trustworthy. It was nearly two years afterwards that I was allowed into their ranks, but not without some obstacles here and there."

"So, how'd you end up back here?"

"It was after the death of the Hokage that I decided to return here," she replied. "Although the Sandaime Hokage was a good man, the council was barely tolerable and the fact that they wanted to kill a newborn child gave me a good enough reason to leave. I spoke with the Sandaime about it and once I had his approval, I left."

"I see."

"I assume you're going directly to Konoha tomorrow?"

"That's right."

"In that case, I have a favor I'd like to ask." Ranma-chan nodded her assent. "Thank you. Please wait a while." Yuri stood and left the room before returning just a few moments later with a sealing scroll in her hands. "Could you deliver this to the Hokage? I did not know whether the council would succeed in killing the child so I kept this with me. Now that he is the Hokage I believe that it's time I return this to its rightful owner."

"What is it?" asked the pigtailed teen, taking the scroll in her hands.

"That is not my place to say I'm afraid. All I can say is that it belonged to someone in his family, who also happened to be a close friend of mine during my stay in Konoha."

"Alright, I'll be sure to give it to him when I see him."

"Thank you. Now you should get some rest. I'm sure you'll want an early start. After all, Konoha is quite a ways away."

Ranma-chan nodded. "Thanks again, for everything."

"Don't mention it," she replied with a smile. "I'll see you in the morning."

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The next day couldn't come quickly enough for three certain individuals.

Two were woken up at the crack of dawn and spent one last meal with their hosts while one was up long before the sun was and had began organizing an assault force.

Following that, two left their hosts, thanking them and promising to meet again once everything had settle down. The other gave orders to the assembled shinobi and prepared to march towards their target.

But all three had one destination in mind. Three goals, three paths, one destination.

'To Konoha.'

_END CHAPTER 5_

**Yet another short chapter here but the next one will definitely be longer. We've also begun working on a side story that takes place between chapters 6 and 7 of this arc of the story. **

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**So until the next chapter people. We hope it doesn't take so long before we update again.**


	33. Arc 3 Chapter 6

Terms of Engagement

By Overlord of Order and Overlord of Chaos

**SUMMARY: ****Many things have happened over the course of Ranma's life. But he soon learns that things were not as they first appeared, a lesson he has learned time and again. When he learns of the truth behind many events in his life, will he be up to the challenge?**

_Arc 3: World of the Amaranthine War_

_Chapter 6: Awakening_

Satsuki walked down the streets of one of Earth Country's many towns, her modified ANBU uniform hidden underneath a layer of tattered, threadbare clothes, just barely managing to hide the grin that threatened to split her face wide open. 'I don't know how he did it, but your father has my thanks, Chika-san.' She glanced down at the scroll in her hands, wondering how a blind man had managed to obtain such an item. One simple scroll had kept her from wasting her time fighting, giving her more time to run towards her destination.

The contents of the scroll were the details of her mission, one issued to her directly by the Tsuchikage herself with the cooperation of the ANBU Commander of Iwa. The mission was simple enough. Feign betrayal and defect to either Konoha or Suna, doing whatever it took to convince them of her sincerity. Once she had done so, she was to await the signal during one of many future battles when she would then turn on them and turn the tides of war. She would be given a message beforehand through the use of spies and informants dictating which battle she would have to await the signal. She was only to reveal the mission to Iwa ANBU while all other Iwa shinobi, the Tsuchikage included, were to be treated as an enemy until she received the signal.

So far, none of the ANBU chasing after her disputed the contents of the scroll once they had seen it and had allowed her to leave without any problems. If only they knew that she had no such mission. She had no idea how Chika's father had managed to procure the scroll for her, complete with the Tsuchikage's seal and signature, and the ANBU Commander's seal of approval as well. With those three within the scroll, no shinobi would dare interrupt her 'mission'.

She had yet to run into any Jounin or even Chuunin but it was for the best. However, the lack of shinobi chasing after her was a cause for concern. Angry as she was, the Tsuchikage would have sent more than just three teams of four hunter-nin to chase after her. To encounter only those three teams during the past three days caused her to grow worried over the reason for having only three teams after her. She was glad not to have to encounter others, but the lack of hunter-nin after her meant that she was either not an important target or there was something more pressing to tend to besides her capture.

'There's only one thing that could draw her attention away from me and that would be Konoha,' she deduced. 'Either Konoha has taken the offensive or she plans to attack Konoha. But… they don't stand a chance at the moment. Morale is much lower now due to recent defeats as well as Saotome's escape and my… betrayal. The only way they could stand a chance would be if…' Satsuki's eyes widened and her entire body froze, remembering some of the things she had seen and heard while acting as the Tsuchikage's bodyguard. 'Could… Could they have completed it already? I have to hurry.'

Satsuki quickly dashed down the street, a panic-stricken look on her face. 'Even if both Uzumaki and Saotome fight at full strength, this is not something they can overcome easily. Even if I helped them it might not be enough.' Once she was out of town, she gathered her Chakra and sent them to her legs, running faster than ever before. 'I hope I can get there before the fighting begins. If I can keep up this pace I'll be at Grass Country in a few hours.'

Satsuki had left town so quickly that she garnered the attention of many people. Some assumed she was in some sort of trouble, while others thought that perhaps she was a homeless child who had stolen some food or money. One person, however, stood out among all those people. It was only by good fortune that he had looked up from his meal and spotted her just as she ran past the doorway to the restaurant. 'Where are you going in such a hurry?' he asked himself, having noticed her pale, panic-stricken face. He sighed. 'And I was just enjoying my lunch too. Damn. Well, I better get going if I wanna catch up to her. Hopefully I can get some information out of her while I'm at it.'

The man stood up, left some money on the table, and walked out of the building. Once outside, he ran after Satsuki, following her out of town and towards the general direction of Konoha. "Come on partner," he called out just as he ran past the town's boundaries. "After her and don't lose her."

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The scenery was but a blur to Satsuki as she ran towards Konoha at top speed but with every passing moment her uneasiness grew. 'They couldn't have reached Konoha already,' she reasoned. 'I've only been gone for three days, that's hardly enough for a large group of shinobi to reach Konoha unless they traveled at full speed the entire time and met no resistance whatsoever.'

But despite what she told herself, she couldn't shake off the feeling that something had gone terribly wrong. 'Could Konoha have been marching towards Iwa or Kumo? If so then they may have encountered…" Satsuki shook her head. "No, I'm probably just overreacting. Konoha won't attack Iwa or Kumo at the moment, despite their continuous victories on every front. Iwa is easy to defend due to the terrain and Kumo's erratic weather makes it difficult to plan a proper assault. Besides, I can't even be certain that Iwa or Kumo is sending out their armies. Still, I better hurry. There's no telling when they'll attack. And the sooner I get this information to Konoha the better.'

Just then, Satsuki's ears picked up the sound of an explosion going off in the distance. She stopped abruptly on a branch, steadying herself with one arm while turning to face the direction of the explosion. 'That was a powerful explosion,' she noted with a frown. 'Should I check?' She asked herself, silently debating on the matter. 'It might not be all that important but… with the war going on I can't take that risk.'

Changing directions, Satsuki ran towards the origin of the explosion, followed closely by the two figures that had been following her since she left town.

It wasn't long before Satsuki found the source of the explosion and what she saw made her turn pale. 'No, I'm too late.' Looking down from her position atop the trees, Satsuki saw hundreds of shinobi fighting before her. Activating her Byakugan, she spotted several distinguishing marks on the shinobi. 'There are shinobi from Konoha, Suna, Iwa, Kumo, and Kusa. I didn't think they'd attack this soon. But it does make me wonder how Konoha and Suna managed to arrive so quickly. Coming from their respective villages it would take Konoha a day or two to arrive here while Suna would need an additional day.'

'The only way they could have intercepted the attack force before they even reached the borders would be if they had already known the attack was coming. But that begs the question, who told them?' Suddenly, she saw something through her Byakugan that caused her to suddenly spin around, throwing a few knives behind her. "Show yourself!"

Without any hint of hesitation, the man stepped out from behind the trees, and into Satsuki's line of sight. Behind him, his partner stepped out as well. Both approached warily, ready to react to any attack Satsuki may send their way. "What are you doing following me?" questioned Satsuki, recognizing the man and his partner. "Shouldn't you be out there helping your comrades?"

"I would be if I didn't have other orders," was the man's reply. "If you don't mind, think you could help me out? I'm pretty sure you can figure out why I was in Earth Country in the first place."

"And I'm quite certain that I don't know anything about who you're looking for, Inuzuka," came Satsuki's sharp reply. "I can only assume he's still alive despite falling from that cliff the other night. I'm actually quite certain he's still alive."

"So you were sent to hunt him down huh?" asked Kiba, holding back a growl.

"Your spies must not be very good if they haven't said anything yet."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"I don't have time to explain right now." Turning back to the battlefield, Satsuki surveyed the area within her Byakugan's range but failed to find the one she was looking for. "Where's Uzumaki?"

"What? You actually think I'm going to tell you that?" replied Kiba, preparing to fight Satsuki despite the fact that the odds were stacked against him.

"If you want the combined armies of Konoha, Suna and Kusa to survive this battle then you, you will. Do you see them? The large number of Iwa shinobi in red?"

Quirking an eyebrow at her question, Kiba looked towards the battle briefly, just long enough to spot the large group she pointed out. "Yeah, they look pretty powerful but so what?"

"Those shinobi are nothing more than experiments."

"Experiments? What?"

"The day that I was found in my father's laboratory, Kumo shinobi found his journal as well, one that kept a well detailed record of all his experiments," Satsuki replied, keeping an eye on the battlefield just in case the man she was looking for entered her range of sight. "One of his experiments utilized the body parts of people in order to create an entirely new person. Those shinobi in red are the results of that project once they understood how my father did it."

"What does that experiment do that makes these guys special?" he asked, growing concerned over where their conversation was headed.

"Bloodline traits can also be passed down so long as they have something, anything at all, from a person with the desired trait. All it would take would be for one person with a bloodline to give up even just a single drop of their blood and the newly created person will have the same bloodline they do. Tell me, are you even aware of who Gendo Fujiwara and Kirika Kuwashima are and what their bloodlines are?"

"Who?"

"And that's exactly why I need to get to Uzumaki. He doesn't know anything about this."

"Hold on, why are you helping us?" Kiba asked, clearly suspicious of Satsuki's motives. "What's the Tsuchikage's game? I doubt she'd just let you come to us with all this information."

Satsuki growled at the question, clenching her fist to prevent her from doing something rash. "I don't have time for this!" yelled Satsuki, watching as the combined forces of Konoha, Suna, and Kusa were slowly pushed back by the new addition to Iwa's army. "Either help me find Uzumaki or stay the hell out of my way!"

Without another word, Satsuki leapt in the direction of the battle, determined to help turn the tides as best as she can while searching for the Hokage. In her hurry, she failed to realize that she had dropped something just as she leapt from the tree. Instead of immediately following her, Kiba rushed to the spot directly below Satsuki's earlier position and picked up the fallen scroll. Seeing the Tsuchikage's official seal on the scroll, Kiba hastily opened it and read its contents, eyes widening at the words written within.

Kiba looked towards the shrinking form of Satsuki before turning a little to the south where Naruto probably was then back to Satsuki. "No, Naruto needs to know about this first. I better hurry before she realizes I have this." Without another word, Kiba and his large canine companion hurried towards Konoha's side to find theie village leader.

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"Hokage-sama, the enemy's front lines are pushing ours back. A group of red-clad Iwa shinobi are leading the attack and are cutting through our combined ranks with relative ease."

Sitting inside the command tent was none other than Naruto Uzumaki, Hokage of Konoha. When word of Iwa and Kumo's approaching armies reached his ears, he immediately gathered his own and sent word to Suna, Kusa, and Kiri. Kiri, of course, had yet to arrive, as he did not feel comfortable sharing the existence of his teleportation seals to them just yet, so they would have to fight without their aid for the time being.

The messenger that had come in had been the fourth one to report the army's failing defense against the might of the red-clad group of shinobi. He, however, had not received any information regarding them from his spy in Iwa. 'I doubt he'd betray us so he either did not hear about this group, or was discovered and kept unaware. Either way, that lack of information might just cost us this battle.'

Beside him was Sabaku no Gaara, Kazekage of Suna. His thoughts were running along the same line as his long time friend's, having known about the presence of Naruto's spies in every village, including his own. It was not that he wasn't trusted, seeing as he had his own spies in Konoha. It was simply a method of staying alert in case something were to happen to either of them without the knowledge of the other. Seeing Naruto's eyes look to him, he gave a small nod.

Both Naruto and Gaara stood from their seats and the former addressed the messenger. "Send out three more teams to reinforce the front lines. I'll join the fight once I've arranged for the defense of all the other fronts." Gaara had given similar orders to the Suna shinobi standing off to the side.

Once both of them had left, Naruto and Gaara left the tent as well. The moment they stepped outside, however, a panting Kiba greeted their sight. "Naruto," he gasped out. "I finally… found you. For a guy who reeks of fox, you're one hard guy to find."

"Kiba?" came the perplexed reply before his confused expression turned to hope. "You're here so that means-"

"Sorry, I haven't found Ranma yet," he apologized then took out the scroll he had picked up earlier. "But I do have something you need to see."

Naruto took the scroll from Kiba and nearly tore it open once he saw the seal on it. After reading the contents he handed the scroll to Gaara before turning to Kiba once more. "Since you found this I assume she's here?"

"Yeah. She's looking for you, apparently to give you information about the group in red."

"I see." The blonde's look turned contemplative at that point. He remained in thought for but a brief moment before speaking again. "Alright, in that case let's see what she has to say about this army. Kiba, you stay here get some rest before you join the fight. Gaara and I will look for Satsuki."

"Alright," he replied, clearly wanting to go back out and fight. "She's probably still at the front lines. Maybe she's hoping that her presence there will lure you out."

With a nod of his head, Naruto turned towards the direction of the fighting and disappeared in a swirl of leaves, followed soon after by a swirl of sand from the Kazekage.

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With Satsuki, things weren't working out as well as she had hoped. Her initial judgment of the new shinobi's skills was quite accurate, save for a few who were stronger, faster, or more intelligent than the others. The problem, however, was that there were far too many of them for her to fight on her own. Both the Konoha and Suna armies were wary of her, and thus did not help or hinder her. To Kusa, she was an unknown but they refrained from fighting once they saw that their allies were doing so.

'I guess it was too much to expect them to help simply because I'm fighting their enemies for them,' she thought. She stabbed the neck of another red-clad shinobi with a kunai and sent a burst of Chakra through her palm right over his heart to ensure his death. 'That's only the third one I've killed and I'm already tired. How can they be as powerful as Jounin after only a short time? Could there have more to the experiment than I was allowed to learn?'

Satsuki was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she failed to see a kunoichi covered from head to toe in stone approach from behind. By the time she turned around, the earth spike in the kunoichi's hand was only inches away from her left eye, one of the few vulnerable parts of her body despite her Armor.

She was saved from losing an eye when a familiar voice let out a powerful yell and struck the attacking kunoichi, shoving an orb of wildly swirling Chakra right where her head was. The kunoichi flew back from the force of the attack, her head, neck, and a portion of her shoulders completely decimated by the powerful technique. Turning to her savior, Satsuki didn't know what to feel. Should she be relieved that the person she was searching for had come to her? Or should she be afraid of the hostile look he was giving her?

"Kiba told me you wanted to see me," he said emotionlessly, clearly trying to hold himself back from attacking her. "If you have anything to say then say it now before I kill you."

"It's about-"

"I know what it's about," he snapped, his glare intensifying. "Just get on with it."

"These shinobi were created by using one of my father's experimental techniques," she stated, not the least bit bothered by the interruption or his tone. "All of them have been given blood from both Gendo Fujiwara and Kirika Kuwashima, their bloodlines being passed along as well." Satsuki rolled to the side and kicked out, knocking the kunai out of the shinobi's hand before being killed by Naruto. "Both are retired shinobi and are the last of their lines," she continued as they fought against the combined forces of Iwa and Kumo. "Gendo Fujiwara's bloodline gives him unrivaled control over the Earth Element, able to manipulate it with but the slightest movement and in any way his imagination can come up with."

"Kirika Kuwashima's bloodline is known for allowing her to control earth of a different kind. While her bloodline has no effect on her ability to manipulate earth, her bloodline allows her to sense and manipulate the minerals in the earth. For this reason she was known as the Crystal Kunoichi. As you've probably seen already, some have already managed to use this ability to create full body armors made of the various minerals in the earth. If you fought them in the area around Iwa you may just find one or two with armors of pure diamond, given the small amount you can find in the mountains."

"I see. But tell me," he paused as he blasted away the three shinobi around him with a powerful wind technique. "Why should I trust you?" He gestured with his head towards the direction of their main camp and Satsuki understood, following him in that direction after knocking away another armored shinobi.

"Asides from the fact that I'm officially a traitor to Iwa?" she asked, pulling out a Bingo Book she had borrowed from one of the ANBU teams she encountered, supposedly to help her convince the Hokage or Kazekage of her desire to defect, and tossed it to him. Soon they reached Konoha's main camp in the area and Naruto led Satsuki into the command tent where they continued their conversation away from the center of the fight.

"Why do you think I did some of the things I've done in the past? I could have chosen to die but instead I chose to live when given the choice. I agreed, though reluctantly, to have my Chakra sealed in order to remain alive. I said nothing to the Tsuchikage about what I've seen in Konoha and I've not done anything that any loyal shinobi wouldn't have done in my position."

"Don't compare yourself with anyone else!" She found herself suddenly upbraided by the blonde Hokage as he roared out his words. "I may not care much for what Ranma did. You know for a fact I was against keeping you alive but I gave him that chance despite the fact that I could have killed you at any time during your stay. I was honestly hoping that the time you spent with him would change things. But I guess I was wrong. The moment you got the chance you went back."

"Of course I went back!" Naruto found himself slightly taken aback by her forceful response. "Why would I not want to go back to the place where the one person important to me lives? You would have made the same choice I did!" Naruto clenched his fists and ground his teeth together, growing more and more infuriated with every statement coming out of Satsuki's mouth. "Don't lie and tell me you would have stayed had our positions been reversed. Even if you were given the chance to live and shown kindness, you would have returned to Konoha the moment you found the opportunity to do so!"

"I wouldn't have simply allowed Ranma to die if I were in your position!" Naruto yelled back, his eyes becoming more like the eyes of the demon he contained and his whisker marks growing thicker and more pronounced. "Admit it! You had nothing to do with his escape! He saved your life and you repay him by simply leaving him to die!"

Satsuki nearly had to bite her own tongue to keep the sharp riposte from leaving her mouth at that statement. A part of her wanted to deny that statement, knowing that she had honestly tried to help him stay alive longer for him to find a way to escape. But another part of her screamed at her, telling her that what he had said was true. When her initial plan had failed, she simply gave up and allowed him to be executed. Instead of finding another way to help him, a more direct and less subtle way perhaps, she found herself choosing her loyalty to the Tsuchikage, the one person who meant more to her than anything else.

'It's not just that,' she told herself, struggling to contain the flood of emotions washing over her. 'Perhaps if I had tried harder, if I had just worked harder, during those three days, I may have been able to save him myself instead of leaving it the way I did. I may have failed to save him myself,' she paused then looked into the Hokage's livid expression. "I may have failed to pay back the debt I owe him," she said to him. "But it does not make me responsible for his death, nor does it mean you can judge me simply because you know one truth out of many. I came today to pay back that debt I owe him. Don't make me regret that."

"Do you honestly think information like this is worth what he gave you?"

"Of course not. If anything what I owe him cannot be repaid thought material means, I know that much."

"In that case, you can repay him by dying." No sooner had those words left his mouth did he thrown several kunai in her direction.

Satsuki, fresh from her earlier fights and still alert managed to avoid them all easily only to be caught unprepared from behind by a wave of sand that quickly wrapped around her entire body and held up a foot off the ground. There was only one person she knew that could have done that. 'The Kazekage,' she thought, cursing herself for not being more prepared.

"The game's over Satsuki," said Naruto walking over to Satsuki's bound form, Gaara appearing from behind her as well ot observe her from the front. "To be honest though, I thought you of all people would have been more careful and observant."

"You make it sound as if I expected to be ambushed by two Kage."

"Actually, I was talking about this." Reaching into his clothes, he held out a familiar scroll, one bearing the seal of the Tsuchikage. "I would have thought you would have destroyed this before you came anywhere near us. After all, having the enemy find out the exact details of your mission can be quite fatal."

"How did you-"

"Kiba found it earlier after you left him in the forest, or so he told me," replied Naruto. "Did you honestly think we wouldn't find out about this one way or another? Give us a bit more credit Satsuki. Or rather, Shiori should have given us more credit. I may not be as good as she is in the way of long-terms strategy, but Shikamaru would have seen though it easily. Even if you were sincere, you would have had to work more than just a few weeks or months before I'd trust you."

"Those orders are-"

"I don't give a damn what you think about these orders of yours," he calmly interrupted, not giving Satsuki a chance to say anything more. "All I know is that you coming here just gave us the chance to eliminate one of the many things keeping us from ending this war."

The Kazekage's indifferent demeanor turned to look directly at Satsuki and his intention was clear through his eyes. Almost immediately she felt a large amount of pressure all over her body and only the memory of having felt something much worse kept her from making a single sound. If she had disabled her Armor the moment she was out of the fight she would have certainly died already. At the moment, her diamond-like flesh was the only thing that kept her alive. But unless she broke out soon she would run out of Chakra long before the Kazekage did.

'No, I can't die just yet, especially not like this,' she screamed within her own mind, struggling with herself to find a way out of her predicament. But as the seconds ticked away she could feel her already drained reserves nearing their limit. 'Is this it then? Am I going to die without even being able to fight back? Looks like I won't be able to repay my debt after all. At least, not the way I wanted to. For what it's worth, I'm grateful you gave me that chance to live.'

Just as the last of her Chakra was used up, Gaara's Desert Coffin suddenly exploded outwards, covering the entire interior of the command tent in sand and releasing a now wide-eyed Satsuki. "Sorry for the mess, but I can't exactly have her dying just yet."

There, standing behind Satsuki's kneeling form was a tall woman with shoulder length brown hair and a black cloak that covered her body from the neck down. She looked Satsuki over, carefully examining her condition before reaching down to help Satsuki up. "You're quite drained of Chakra but nothing that can't be remedied. Other than that I assume you're able to fight?"

Satsuki nodded numbly, surprised that she had been spared form death once more. "Who are you?" she asked as the woman discreetly pressed something into her hand when she had helped her up from the floor. "Not that I don't appreciate what you did just now."

"We have time for questions and answers later." The woman's tone when speaking to her was soft and caring, almost motherly, thought Satsuki. "For now, though, I suggest you leave this to me. I believe that the one you are looking for has just entered the battle and is currently fighting against Iwa's new recruits."

"What?" Satsuki breathed out, turning slightly pale at the new revelation. "Where?"

The woman thought for a moment. "The clearing to the north of where you and Uzumaki met just now. You should hurry if you want to help. I haven't fought any of these new shinobi nor have I fought the one you seek, therefore I cannot say how long he will last in his present condition."

"Present… condition? What happened?" Satsuki asked frantically, her heart rate speeding up at the various implications of those two words.

"Calm down child, you'll see for yourself once you get there. Hurry now. I'll handle these two myself while you go aid your friend." Satsuki nodded reluctantly, clearly wanting an answer to her question but realizing it would be foolhardy for her to stay any longer.

Without another word, Satsuki rushed out of the tent, just barely out of hearing range when she heard Naruto yell out in anger. 'No, I don't have time to think about him.' She looked down at her hand at the item the woman pressed into her hand and found a small round case with four familiar brown pills inside. Opening the case, she took out one of the pills and quickly chewed and swallowed it, immediately feeling the effects as her Chakra was replenished. 'I'll have to remember to thank her properly once this is all over. Hang on, I'm coming.'

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Back in the command tent, after Satsuki had run away, Naruto let out a primal roar and charged at the brown haired woman, one of his father's signature techniques appearing in each hand. The woman, however, simply revealed a grin that looked almost as feral as the Hokage's appearance and grabbed both wrists before the attack could reach her and slammed the two swirling orbs against each other. Naruto eyes barely had the time to widen in surprise before a powerful explosion sent him flying back, many shallow cuts appearing all over his body due to the nature of the attack.

He landed on his feet beside Gaara, who had hastily constructed a wall of sand that stopped the force of the explosion from reaching him. The woman, despite being as close to the attack as Naruto, was completely unharmed, not even a single tear in her clothing. "Is this the extent of the Hokage's strength?" she taunted, still grinning from ear to ear. "You were always going on about being Hokage and yet your strength is nothing compared to your five predecessors. Your father was certainly much more powerful and much faster than you are at present."

"Who are you? Why are you here?"

"You can call me Mizuki," replied the now named Mizuki. "As for my reasons for being here, I believe I already answered that. I simply cannot have Satsuki dying at this point in time. She still has much to do and a long journey ahead of her."

"The only journey she has ahead of her is her journey to hell. Out of the way!" demanded the Hokage, preparing to attack once more as the ever-silent Kazekage did the same.

"Children these days are so impulsive. Then again, most children are impulsive while only a few truly know patience from a young age. But if it is a fight you desire then I suppose I have some time before I am needed elsewhere. Come then child of man, show me the strength you are so proud of. Show me what it means, to be Hokage."

In the blink of an eye Naruto was gone from where he stood, suddenly reappearing in three places at once, all three pairs of hands held in different positions. From her left, right, and rear, came three simultaneous elemental attacks while she found several tendrils of sand rushing towards her from the front. Four attacks struck as one, a powerful explosion blasting the tent apart and sending the tattered pieces flying.

Naruto formed several more clones and sent them into the thick cloud of dust that lingered from the explosion, each one attacking from a different direction and at a different time. But no sooner had they entered did they suddenly disperse, the memories of the clones that returned to the creator unable to reveal how they had been destroyed. "It would seem you are still the same one-trick pony from all those years ago," said the woman from within the lingering dust. "You rely on clones and your large reserve of Chakra in order to overwhelm your opponent and delay them as you prepare to use more powerful techniques. Though you understand that sheer numbers cannot always defeat your opponent, you still insist on utilizing such poor tactics."

The dust began to clear up and the two Kage could make out the silhouette of the woman within. "Despite the fact that I was present during those battles I still find it surprising that you not only managed to kill Orochimaru, but that you also managed to kill several members of Akatsuki. I'm beginning to believe that you are what some people refer to as a child of God's favor. With the way luck seems to influence many events in your life, I am beginning to believe that there is such a being that seems to favor you."

"Are you saying I won those fights because I was lucky?"

"Ah, it seems that there is a mind inside that head of yours. If you think about it, how is it that you were able to kill all those people at such a young age? Granted, you killed Orochimaru not too long ago compared to the members of Akatsuki but that does not change the fact that you were clearly outclassed during those times you fought the members of that organization."

"In fact, the main reason you won many of those battles was because of your large Chakra reserve. And why is it that you had so much Chakra despite your young age? I'll tell you why, it's because of the presence of the Nine-tailed fox within you. Without it, you would have been nothing more than an ordinary child, no special abilities whatsoever."

"Are you saying I owe all my strength to the demon in me?" roared Naruto. For some reason the woman before him annoyed him. No, annoyed was too weak a word to describe what he was feeling. The very presence of the woman infuriated him greatly like no other person before. The fact that he was taunting him in such a manner did not help things at all.

"Of course not. After all, your determination to prove yourself is your own after all. Then again," the woman's feral grin widened as she looked at the Hokage the way a wild animal looked at its next meal. "If the demon was not sealed inside you, the villagers would not have had a reason to hate you during your childhood. The hatred and scorn they showed you was what led you to dream of being Hokage in the first place. And without that dream, that determination to become so great and respected by those around you, you wouldn't even be half the shinobi you are now."

"Face it _Hokage-sama_," she jeered, the title being said mockingly. "Without the demon within you, you are nothing."

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Lashing out with a kick, a raven-haired teen clad in a red shirt and black pants sent his opponent flying back into the tree line but causing him great pain in the process. 'Damn, this guy's pretty tough. Where the hell did he come from? I don't remember seeing him before.'

The stone covered man leapt out from behind the trees once more, engaging Ranma in several bouts of unarmed combat. Ranma's superior speed allowed him to easily avoid the man's sluggish attacks, but his opponent's armor prevented any of his attacks from making any significant damage. He had attempted the Breaking Point earlier but underneath his stone armor was a layer of what appeared to be crystals, preventing the debris from the attack from hurting him. The man's only vulnerability was his exposed eyes but he did everything he could to prevent Ranma from even coming close to touching them.

If that wasn't enough, Ranma was already running on sheer willpower. He had been traveling nearly the whole day and when he heard of the battle, he rushed to the battlefield and began fighting immediately. When he encountered a few of the red-clad shinobi, he was already a little winded but had managed to knock them out just the same. But the moment his current opponent jumped out to fight him, he knew he would have a hard time getting out of his current situation.

"So this is the boy that could fight as well as a Kage?" asked the man, stepping back with a triumphant look in his eyes, his voice muffled by the armor around him. By now, Ranma was sweating heavily, his breathing was shallow and ragged, and he could barely stand up straight. "It would seem your skills are incomparable to mine. What was that attack earlier? Fierce Tiger Blast, was it? I heard from the Tsuchikage that its power was fearsome and yet it failed to penetrate my second armor. And here I thought I had finally found a worthy opponent."

"You talk too much," replied Ranma, unaffected by his opponent's taunts. "You trying to put me to sleep or something? That another one of your special techniques?"

"Impudent brat. I'll teach you to respect you betters."

"Yeah, you're definitely better at boring people to death."

With a strained yell, the man rushed forward once more, ready to fight the already exhausted teen. But before he reached him, a whip made of flames suddenly emerged from the forest behind him, wrapping around the arm that was cocked back and ready to punch the teen senseless. "That's enough out of you. I'm your opponent now."

The armored man found himself flying back when the whip was jerked back, sending him crashing to the ground on his back. Getting off the ground, he turned around and found himself face to face with an eight-year-old girl.

"YOU!"

"SATSUKI?!"

Standing there, with a whip of fire in one hand, was a familiar auburn haired girl that Ranma did not expect to meet under such circumstances. Without a word to either male in the clearing, Satsuki lashed out with the whip, aiming for the man's armored head.

The man raised up an arm and allowed the whip to coil around it before giving it a firm pull. Seeing this, Satsuki let the flames dissipate, forming handseals for another technique while the man stumbled. "Lightning Wall!" Several bolts of lightning struck the ground around the man, followed by several more, forming three circular walls of lightning around the man. Running around the man, Satsuki rushed towards Ranma. "Are you alright?" she asked hastily, teaching into her pocket to pull out the case of soldier pills.

"I'll be fine. But what are you doing here? For that matter why are you helping me?" Satsuki froze just as she pulled out the circular case. Her expression softened and she turned away, unable to look at him after his question. "Satsuki?" he asked, wondering what had happened.

"It's… it's a little complicated. For now we should get out of here."

"What? I can't do that. Everyone is still fighting."

"You shouldn't be worrying about this fight. Your fight is with me after all."

At the sound of a female voice, both Ranma and Satsuki turned to the side where a cloaked figure stood. Satsuki recognized the cloak as the same kind the woman from earlier was wearing. "I do apologize for this Ranma, but this is something that needs to be done."

The cloaked woman suddenly disappeared from where she was standing. Eyes turning wide, Ranma pushed Satsuki away, sending her and the three remaining soldier pills to the ground, just as the woman reappeared along with a large crater, her fist at the center of it, before she disappeared just as quickly as she appeared. Ranma leapt into the air just as the woman, and another crater, appeared where he was standing. She leapt up after her where she encountered a grinning Ranma.

"Aerial combat may be your specialty," she stated just before their arms and legs blurred into motion. In only three seconds one of them was sent flying down to the ground, landing in one of two craters, the impact making it larger than it already was. "But your speed is nowhere close to mine."

Ranma, already exhausted from his earlier battles, could barely push himself off the ground. But espite his condition, he pushed himself up and stood ready to fight once more. Satsuki knew this and rushed to his aid but the cloaked woman grabbed her by the arm and tossed her into a tree. The woman threw two shuriken on either wide of the tree. When Satsuki felt something press against her skin, she realized that the two shuriken were tied to each other. Very soon, she found herself bound to the tree.

"I apologize in advance, Ranma."

"Why's that?" he panted out, getting ready for the woman's next attack. "You gonna kill me now?"

"No. But you may very well kill me once this is all over."

Forming a strange set of handseals, the woman could be heard whispering words of some sort. It could have been just her low voice, but it could have easily been another language since neither Ranma nor Satsuki could understand what she was saying. The woman suddenly stopped, her hands held into what must have been the final handseal of the sequence. "When we meet again, I hope you can forgive me for doing this."

Suddenly Ranma's form began to shimmer and he could feel something pulling on his entire body. He grunted in pain when the pulling sensation grew stronger, feeling as though something was trying to stretch him out. "What… what is this?" Ranma received no answer from the cloaked woman as the sensation and the pain became stronger and he felt like something was trying to rip him apart. The feeling continued to grow until he could no longer bear it and he yelled out in pain.

"Ranma!" Satsuki screamed, attempting to break out of her bonds but finding the wire much more durable than it seemed. "What are you doing to him? Stop it!" Satsuki's demands went unheeded and she couldn't help but feel guilty once more. Twice now Ranma needed her help and now, for the second time, she found herself unable to do anything about it. "Please, stop it," she pleaded, struggling against her bonds to no avail. "What do you want? Why are you doing this?"

Another scream brought her attention to the suffering teen, his face scrunched up in pain. For once in her life, Satsuki could sympathize with him. Once before she had felt unimaginable pain, a kind of pain she would not wish upon anyone. How she wished she could do something to relieve him of his pain but her bonds kept her from doing anything to help.

The light around Ranma began to grow brighter just as he own screams of pain increased in volume. The light soon grew too bright for Satsuki to look at and she was forced to look away, despite wanting to see what was happening. Then in an instant, everything stopped. Blinking a few times to regain her sight, Satsuki turned to where Ranma. Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped at the sight.

Where Ranma was once convulsing in pain, now there was nothing. If not for the presence of the cloaked woman and the two craters, Satsuki would have thought that what she had seen was nothing more than an illusion. "Wh-What? Where is he?" Turning to face the cloaked woman with an angry scowl, she yelled, "WHAT DID YOU DO WITH HIM?"

"I simply sent him to a place far away from here."

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"SHUT UP!" Naruto's Chakra flared crimson, his canines and nails elongating and sharpening, and his whisker marks thickening and darkening. "YOU DON'T KNOW THE FIRST THING ABOUT ME. DEMON OR NO DEMON, MY STRENGTH IS MY OWN!"

Seeing the state his friend was in, Gaara attempted to pacify him. "Naruto, don't-"

Naruto's head snapped to the side, leveling a fierce glare directly at his friend. "STAY OUT OF THIS GAARA!" he roared, taking the red haired Kazekage by surprise. "SHE CHALLENGED MY PRIDE. I CAN'T JUST LET THAT GO!"

"You're better than this," replied the Kazekage, matching Naruto's glare with his own. "Don't let simple words make you lose sight of your goal."

"He is right you know." Mizuki stepped into the conversation, drawing the attention of the irate Kage once more. "You are in the middle of a possibly decisive battle and yet your mind is filled with thoughts of defeating someone who insults you. Are you honestly going to keep insisting that you are genuine Hokage with that kind of mindset?"

"The shinobi of a village live to serve and protect their Kage, while the Kage lives and dies for the village. In that sense, the Kage isn't allowed the luxury of living for himself. If you truly wish to be a genuine Hokage then you will have to abandon all thoughts of personal revenge and pride. You must learn to live for the village and its populace first and foremost."

"Why are you here?" Gaara asked, a deep, thoughtful frown appearing on his face. "You have already ensured the safety of the girl. Why do you still remain?"

"I am still here because I have not accomplished my mission yet. To truly ensure Satsuki's survival, I must eliminate the source of the problem." Hearing those words, Gaara gathered his sand once more. "Oh, you can rest assured that I have no intentions of killing either of you. This… man desires to kill Satsuki for revenge. So long as he wishes for her death, I will be here to ensure her survival. I will not kill him, but if Satsuki were to die then you can be certain that he will die a violent death."

"Is that a threat?" growled Gaara, his sand rising from the ground in response to his agitation.

"No, it is a promise from someone who holds her dearly in their heart. What he will do to you should Satsuki die will be far worse than anything I can think of." The look in her eyes when she said that sent a chill down Gaara's spine and, for the first time in a long time, he found himself terrified. "Now, I suggest you help you friend understand that certain things cannot come before others before he does something rash."

"I DON'T NEED TO HEAR THAT FROM YOU!" Naruto, who had remained silent for a while, suddenly charged towards the cloaked woman, a crimson sphere of Chakra in his right hand. "TAKE THIS!"

The grin never left the woman's face the entire time, if anything her grin seemed to grow wider just as the attack came within a few feet of her. Thrusting an arm forward, she did something that caused both Kage's jaws to drop. "What? Did you think this attack of yours is flawless?" She asked mockingly, the crimson sphere hovering in the space between hers and Naruto's hand. "Your first mistake was to use the Kyuubi's Chakra instead of your own. My partner and I are the worst possible match-ups for you."

Mizuki drew her arm back, the attack following her hand as it moved away, then thrust forward once more, driving the orb into his abdomen. Shocked by the sight of his own attack being turned against him in such a way, Naruto was unable to react and was sent spinning back and into the nearby forest, smashing through several trees along the way.

Before Gaara could even attempt to attack the woman, she began to fade away right in front of his eyes, laughing all the while. Before she faded away completely she said, "It seems my partner has begun her part of the plan. In any case, this may very well be the only warning you'll ever have. Tell Uzumaki to abandon his thoughts of foolishness before it is too late. Because if he fails to do so, he may very well be the first victim of a war that has yet to begin."

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"WHAT?" she hissed out, clearly unable to accept the woman's simple response.

"This matter does not concern you, Satsuki. I suggest you simply wait for him to return. That, his return that is, is something I can assure you."

Before Satsuki could get another word out, the woman threw a kunai at the tree, cutting the wire that bound Satsuki, and disappeared. Satsuki cursed as she tried to sense the woman's presence and found it heading to the east. Satsuki picked up the fallen case of soldier pills, activated her Byakugan, and chased after the woman. Seeing that the woman was faster than her, she swalloeed another soldier pill and immediately sent the excess Chakra to her legs, empowering them as much as she could and ran faster than ever.

The woman clearly sensed Satsuki's Chakra as she paused abruptly before she resumed running. As Satsuki chased after the woma, her Byakugan saw something that nearly caused her to miss the branch she was about to land on. Her poor landing, however, gave the woman a chance to put some much-needed distance between the two of them. 'No, I won't let you escape,' thought Satsuki, chasing after the woman who was now at the edge of her Byakugan's range. 'Even if I have to hunt you down all over the world, you won't get away without answer my questions Haruno.'

_END CHAPTER 6_

**And that's the end of this chapter. Don't worry, we'll update soon. Maybe.**

**Anyway, the next chapter may or may not come out soon since we'll also be working on the sidestory that will take place between this chapter and the next. The sidestory will crossover with another series, which is still undecided, but will most likely be up in a day or two. Possibly in a few hours if we can decide which series to use. **

**The sidestory will be about where Ranma was sent to and what happened there, though it will not focus solely on that. The more important details about his trip will be retold in later chapters of this story though just in case some of you don't feel like reading it.**

**Anyway please click the nice green button just below the end of this note and tell us what you think. Like it, love it, hate it, despise it, wanna burn it, wanna print out a copy of the chapter and frame it, it doesn't matter what it is we still want to hear your opinions. **

**So until the next chapter people.**


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